Joe Barracato is greeted by NY Longhorns teammates after his third-inning grand slam.
By Rich Bevensee
Max Troche is a self-described slow starter on the mound and Joe Barracato has been battling through a slump at the plate.
Both 2028 New York Longhorns players managed to figure things out on Tuesday and reverse course to help their team scrounge out a win at the 16U Blue Chip Prospects event at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
Troche overcame a rough first inning to allow just one run over his last four innings. Barracato, who endured a brutal July, blasted a game-changing grand slam home run.
Together, they propelled the Longhorns of Massapequa Park, N.Y., to a come-from-behind 10-5 victory over the Hudson Valley Bulldogs.
“The first thing is not to panic and they just have to grind at bats, and that’s what we did today,” Longhorns coach Artie Maisano said. “Our pitcher settled in which helps, and we got guys on base which always creates a little bit of havoc.”
Barracato just endured that tough month offensively, going 1-for-18 in July, but his grand slam over the right field fence in the bottom of the third inning was the deciding blow in this game.
The Longhorns had just taken a 5-4 lead with two out on a bases-loaded walk to Drew Waters. On a 2-0 pitch, the lefty hitting Barracato swatted his first homer of the season.
“I wasn’t thinking about anything,” said Barracato, a 5-11, 165-pound rising junior at Island Trees High School in Levittown, N.Y. “I was thinking, ‘See fastball, hit it. See ball, hit ball.”
Maybe it’s the Diamond Nation air which has fueled Barracato’s bat, or it could be that Maisano tried to ease the pressure on Barracato by moving him down to the eighth slot in the batting order. On Monday he went 2-for-2 with a double, three RBI and a run scored in the Longhorns’ 8-5 loss to Body Armor Titans 2029.
“I’ve been thinking positive, thinking I can do it,” Barracato said. “I was just thinking too much.”
“He’s one of our better hitters and he’s been struggling a little bit, so we took a little pressure off him (by moving him down), and he’s starting to get hot so we’ll see where he goes from here,” Maisano said.
Troche, a rising 6-foot, 185-pound junior at Mineola in Garden City Park, Long Island, showed remarkable resilience in bouncing back after the first inning, when he allowed four runs on four walks and one hit.
Over his last 3⅔ innings, Troche used his fastball, sinker, slider and changeup to face just three batters over the minimum and permit one run on three hits and no walks.
“I tend to be a little bit of a slow starter, starting to figure my stuff out,” Troche said. “I think my pitches were competitive but they were just a little bit too far outside of the zone. I decided that instead of throwing those competitive pitches, I’m just gonna lay it in there and let them hit it.”
Kyle Lascano, a rising junior at Don Bosco Prep, singled and drove in a run for the Bulldogs.
Maisano showed considerable patience in allowing Troche to continue after the right-hander’s first-inning troubles. Troche rewarded Maisano’s trust by quickly getting his groove back and not allowing the Longhorns to fall further behind.
“Sometimes in the first inning it takes a little while to get used to the mound, find your arm slot, and him settling in on his own,” Maisano said. “He started to feel comfortable and we started to make a few plays, and you go from there.”
As for falling behind 4-0 in the first inning, Maisano said he normally allows his players to figure things out for themselves, but he felt compelled to fire up the troops after the Bulldogs jumped on top so quickly and so decisively.
“Normally I don’t say anything but today I did,” Maisano said. “We’ve been struggling a little bit and I felt like I needed to help them get going and play the way I know they can play.”
The Bulldogs of Beacon, N.Y., took advantage of Troche’s off-balance start to build a 4-0 lead on only one hit. Brandon Luciani and Kyle Lascano earned bases-loaded walks and the Bulldogs scored two more on an infield throwing error following Hudson Valentine’s two-out grounder.
The Longhorns began to peck away in their first at bat when leadoff hitter Jon Mullaly walked, stole second and third and scored on a Derek Kolmam groundout.
In the bottom of the third, the Longhorns batted around and scored eight runs on four hits, two walks and two hit batsmen.
Mullaly singled in a run to spark the rally, and two batters later Kolman did the same to bring the Longhorns within a run at 4-3. Dean Geiger was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force the tying run home, and Waters walked with the bases still loaded to give the Longhorns their first lead at 5-4.
Then came Barracato’s blast.
“That shot was unbelievable,” Maisano said. “I told him just go up there and relax, get your pitch and drive through it. Luckily there were guys on base, and right off the bat we knew that ball was hit pretty well.”
In the top of the fourth, Valentine drove in Lascano with a double to left to bring the Bulldogs within 9-5.
The Longhorns added a run in their final at bat in the fourth when Geiger notched his second RBI of the game on a single to right.
There were a number of outstanding defensive plays in the game.
Mullaly made a nice running catch with his back to the plate on an Austin Lilla fly ball in the first inning. Lilla’s brother, James, was victimized by another Longhorns defensive gem in the second when second baseman Gavin Porter made a sliding stop on his knees in the hole to snare a Lilla grounder and threw him out.
On the Bulldogs side, right fielder Luciani made a pinpoint throw home to nail Porter trying to score from second on a Geiger base hit in the fourth.
Troche yielded five runs (three earned) on four hits and four walks with two strikeouts in 4⅔ innings. He was relieved by Sal Echel who gave up a walk and retired the Bulldogs’ comeback effort with a flyout.
For the Bulldogs, righty Easton Koehler went 2⅔ innings and surrendered eight runs on four hits and four walks with three strikeouts. Brendan Dwyer pitched 2⅓ innings and yielded two runs on four hits, one walk and one hit batsman.