Henry Mora, who went 2-for-2, takes off on steal of second for the Barnstormers.
By Sean Reilly
Landon Warchol had a simple pitching formula on Wednesday afternoon.
The right-hander trusted his primary stuff, threw for strikes, benefited from early run support and got a big play from his defense to boost the Hayner Academy Barnstormers 16U to a 1-0 victory over the Tri State Arsenal 2027 Victus at the Diamond Nation 16U World Series.
Warchol pitched a five-inning one-hitter, with seven strikeouts and two walks, for the Barnstormers, who hail from Saratoga County, N.Y.
The one run came early. Steven Nicklas led off the game with a four-pitch walk and moved to second when Luke Mootz grounded out to shortstop. Tyler Dorvee then brought Nicklas home with a grounds rule double to center field.
Warchol, a Class of 2027 player from Guilderland High School, threw first-pitch strikes to 11 batters.
“My curveball was locating well,” he said. “My fastball maybe threw them off also. The lead gave me a lot of confidence out there and made me feel a lot better. The defense made plays as well.”
Having the first batter of the game score the only run was evidence of the crisp play by both sides.
Dorvee’s RBI double came on the first pitch of his at-bat.
“I was looking for a fastball, and to jump on the first pitch,” he said. “It felt great off the bat.”
Landon Warchol pitched a five-inning one-hit shutout for the Barnstormers.
The Arsenal benefited from several impressive catches during the game from right-fielder Skylar Garcia, two of which robbed the Barnstormers’ Jacob Wolf of extra-base hits, including one that may have been headed over the fence.
Garcia almost scored the tying run for his team in the bottom of the fourth, if not for a great play by first baseman Wolf.
Garcia led off that inning with a single to left field, and was sacrificed to second by Zack Guttormsen. After a pop out to Wolf, the next batter was J.R. Brovak, who was safe on a throwing error. Garcia had moved to third on the grounder, and then continued toward home after the overthrow. Wolf got to the ball and fired to the plate, where catcher Ryan Conklin made a tag for the third out.
Henry Mora finished 2-for-2 for the Barnstormers, who totaled five hits against the Arsenal pitching combination of Dylan Knight and Cooper Himes. Knight stranded three runners on third base and another at second over his 4⅓ innings
The win improved the Barnstormers to 1-1 in the tournament, with two more games to play on Thursday. The Arsenal is now 0-2, and will seek to bounce back in its two remaining games on Thursday night.