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Astro Falcons still alive in NABF World Series
By Greg Gulas
STRUTHERS
The Astro Falcons will be the lone local representative when the NABF 18-U World Series concludes today at Bob Cene Park.
Astro won twice Saturday, defeating Troy American legion Post No. 43 4-0 and then the Michigan Bulls 9-1 to advance to semifinal play.
After posting a 2-1 victory over Diamond Hit Club, Baird Brothers fell to the Sayo Grays, 8-6 in 13 innings in quarterfinal elimination game.
“It didn’t matter who we play on Sunday, we’re just happy to still be playing,” Astro manager Andy Timko said. “We had a week off between the league championship and beginning of the NABF tournament and we struggled in all areas our first game back. That’s not an excuse, but it took us a little while to come back together. Right now, we’re jelling and I couldn’t be more pleased with our overall effort.”
The Bulls took the early run advantage in the first inning when Connor Kin’s single plated Jack Palo.
Astro (38-7) knotted the game at a run apiece in their half of the frame when Joe Gunn singled home Jack Anderson with their initial tally.
Gunn said falling behind at the outset just seemed to wake everyone up.
“We tied the game in the first inning, but that six-run second inning was exactly what we needed in order to get going,” Gunn said. “We really had excellent pitching, our bats were clicking and that got us back on track.”
That six-run inning gave Astro a 7-1 lead and a margin that the Bulls could not overcome.
Zach Senchak and Anderson each had singles producing two runs while a Jared Kapturasky double, and another hit by Gunn added two more runs.
The Astros increased their lead to 8-1 in the third inning, adding an insurance marker in the sixth for good measure.
The Baird Brothers-Sayo Grays game featured three ejections, including managers on both sides, eight pitchers, eight errors, 25 hits and 28 players left on base — 16 by Baird Brothers.
“We were trailing 4-1 and I had to try something to get us kick-started,” Baird Brothers manager Don Pletcher said of his ejection. “It worked in the fifth inning as we scored four runs and took the lead. We’re disappointed, but that’s baseball. We had a great pool play but that’s the luck of the draw. We ran into a great team as they made plays and we failed to do so. Walks and errors kill you and that’s just not us.”
Run-scoring singles by both Randy Ramirez and Johnathan Pena in the 13th inning proved to be the margin of victory for Sayo.
The Grays jumped on Baird starter Alex Stobert in the opening stanza, nicking him for two runs on back-to-back singles by Ramirez and Mike Coletta.
Baird returned the favor an inning later, cutting the lead in half when Matt Didonato crossed the plate on a Dom Bucko single.
Bucko would have three hits in the game, including a triple in the eighth frame.
Sayo increased their lead to 3-1 in the fourth on a run-scoring single by Eric Valdez, making it 4-1 the following inning on Ramirez’ second r.b.i. single of the game.
Baird Brothers sent nine batters to the plate in the fifth inning, scoring four times for a 5-4 advantage.
An RBI single by Brendan Burke cut the Sayo margin to 4-2 and when reliever Sam Greenberg followed with a single that scored both Mark Engle and Burke, the game was knotted at 4.
Bucko’s second single of the game scored Matt Didonato for a 5-4 Astros lead.
Sayo refused to go away, however, scoring a run in the sixth inning on an infield error and without the benefit of a hit to re-tie the contest at 5-5.
A run-scoring single by Malik Miller in the eighth inning gave the Grays 6-5 lead, albeit temporarily as Baird’s Sam Ireland’s sacrifice fly scored Bucko with the tying run to force another session.
ASTRO FALCONS 4, TROY AMERICAN LEGION POST No. 43 0
Astro Falcons won for the third time in four outings as Richie Serignese tossed five innings of scoreless relief, allowing just three hits while striking out five.
Astros scored three times in the opening frame in recording the tourney’s fifth shutout.
Jared Kapturasky and Tyler Canova each had two hits for Astros while Jack Anderson knocked in two of the team’s four tallies.
Cory Cotrell, Brandon Nesbitt and Noah Roswell each had a hit for Tory while Nick Matey pitched four innings of scoreless, allowing just two hits.
BAIRD BROTHERS 2, DIAMOND HIT CLUB 1
Baird Brothers remained undefeated and defeated the Diamond Hit Club for the second time in the tourney, 2-1.
They had already defeated the Hit Club, 13-0 in five innings on Friday.
With the game scoreless after four innings, Baird’s Dom Bucko drove in both runs with his safety in the fifth frame for a 2-0 advantage.
Hit Club got one run back in their half of the inning, but it proved too little, too late as the Hit Club was eliminated.
Brendan Burke, Chad Coles and Dom Bucko combined on a two-hitter for Baird Brothers with the run allowed unearned.
Bucko, Sam Ireland, Mike Turner, and Jesse Richards each had a hit for Baird Brothers.