By Sean Reilly

The situation facing Julian Glasgow was quite clear. 

The score was tied, the count was full, runners were on second and third and there were two out in the bottom of the ninth inning of the championship game of the 17/18U Home Run Classic, Powered By Victus, on Sunday afternoon at Diamond Nation.

An out would move the game to a 10th inning, but a hit by the number two man in the batting order would give his WS Hawks team the title.

“Early on I was looking for a fastball,” Glasgow said. “He broke a few curveballs and then with two strikes and a 3-2 count, I knew he was going to throw a fastball because he couldn’t walk me.” 

That’s the pitch he got, and Glasgow lined a single to center field which scored Alexander Trapani with the winning run as the WS Hawks gained a 4-3 victory over the Frozen Ropes Rockies in Flemington. 

The New York City-based Hawks ended the weekend with a 4-0 record with a 23-11 run difference to win in their first first event of the year, which was also the opening 17/18U Wood Bat tourney of 2025 at ‘The Nation.’ The Rockies ended the tournament 3-1. 

The Hawks came close to winning the game during the regulation seven innings. 

Hawks starter Justin Diez pitched six shutout frames and left a 2-0 lead in the hands of the bullpen in the seventh. 

The Rockies used three walks to load the bases before leadoff batter Nick Colello came to the plate with two out. He also walked to score the first run for the Rockies. After a pitching change, Tyler Ingalls lined a single to score Justin Velez with the tying run. Another runner tried to score, but a strong throw from outfielder Brian Stone to catcher Andrew Hurtado resulted in a brief rundown, with a throw from Hurtado to third baseman Xavier Lehmann getting a tag for the third out. 

The Hawks went down in order against Ingalls in the bottom of the seventh inning, which sent the game into the “bases loaded with one out” tiebreaker to start the eighth inning.

Zachary Harner, the second WS Hawks reliever in the seventh, struck out both Rockies batters in the eighth to get through the inning clean.

Ingalls got a fly out to shallow center and groundout to third to escape the bottom of the inning, closing out a performance in which he went eight innings (95 pitches, 63 for strikes) with six hits allowed, five strikeouts and no walks.

In the top of the ninth, the first Rockies batter dropped down a bunt, but a throw from first baseman Trapani to catcher Hurtado got an out at the plate. 

Thomas Scarpaci followed with a bunt, and this time it resulted in a run as Ryan Yioupis beat a throw home. The next batter grounded out to shortstop. 

That left the WS Hawks heading into the bottom of the ninth facing their first deficit of the game. Emil Torres led off with a single to right field that scored Jonathan Stern with the tying run, but a throw from Scarpaci in the outfield to catcher Velez got the second out.

Julian Glasgow and Justin Diez were named co-MVPs of the 17/18U Home Run Classic.

That sent up Glasgow, who had been 1-for-3 to that point. Velez stole second before Glasgow delivered the game-ending hit. 

The WS Hawks established their 2-0 lead by scoring in the first and third innings.

Torres led off the first with a double to the fence in right-center field. With two out, Diez lined an RBI single to left field. 

Glasgow singled to right with two out in the third. He stole second before scoring on Stone’s single to center.

Diez closed out his pitching performance with six strikeouts, three walks and four hits allowed over his six innings. 

He helped his cause by picking off two runners (one at first and the other at second). Catcher Velez also picked off a runner at second. 

Not only did those plays get outs for Diez, it also led to Rockies runners being more cautious in taking leads. 

“My pickoff was working,” he said. “I work on that a lot with my dad. It’s important. You can get an easy out to help stop runs from scoring or runners from advancing.” 

Diez shared the tournament MVP award with Glasgow. 

“I tried to pound the zone early and get first-pitch strikes,” Diez said. 

“There were a lot of back and forths in the game,” Glasgow said. “It was great to end it that way.  It could have gone a completely different way had  we not made the plays when it mattered. This is a great start to the season. Hopefully we’ll just carry this momentum into Alabama and Boston and wherever we go and win a couple more tournaments.”