43
Astro Falcons leave bases loaded in NABF World Series defeat
By Greg Gulas
STRUTHERS
The Astro Falcons and Jackson (Miss.) 96ers are two sandlot baseball programs that know a little bit about World Series championships.
Between the two, they have a combined 10 title game appearances with the 96ers advancing to the title tilt on six previous occasions.
Looking to become just the eighth team — second locally — to defend their title, Astro Falcons saw their last inning rally fall short as the 96ers held on for a 3-2 victory to win the NABF senior division World Series Sunday at Cene Park.
It was the 96ers fourth title overall, having previously won the 1994, 1996 and 2006 crowns.
Leading 3-2 in the seventh inning with no outs, runners on first and second and the count 2-0 to Astros Mike Turconi, 96ers manager Derek Topik removed starter Darius Taylor in favor of reliever Javian Stone, who promptly threw two quick balls to load the bases.
Turconi joined Matt Gibson, who led off the inning with a triple and Zach Campbell, who also walked with the hopes of either tying the game to force extra innings or take the lead and hope to hold the 96ers in their half of the seventh inning.
Stone then proceeded to get Jack Anderson to pop out to second baseman Chris Hart, struck out Noah Laster and then got Dakota Bingham to foul out to first baseman Eldeshun Miller to preserve the victory.
“The only thing going through my mind was not to let anyone get a piece of the ball so they couldn’t score,” Stone said. “I used my fast ball to set up my curve because that’s a pitch that I had relied on most of the season. It’s a great feeling to part of a championship team.”
Astro Falcons opened the scoring in the second inning when Laster reached on an error by shortstop Jovante Dorris, advancing to third on an error by Hart. He then raced home when Craig Palidar was caught stealing at second base on a double steal attempt.
The 96ers tied the game at a run apiece in the third when Albert Hughes led off with a walk, stole second and proceeded to score on Dorris’ double down the left field line.
“It’s disappointing, but this team went 43-9 overall and that tells you a lot about their character,” Astro Falcons manager Andy Timko said. “They swing the bats well, pitch and field just as well and they never gave up. It’s an excellent team that just fell a little short today of their goal and that was to repeat as World Series champions.
In the fifth inning, the 96ers took a 3-1 lead as Albert Hughes tripled with one away, scored on a single by Dorris with Dorris then scoring after D.J. Lewis followed with the second triple of the inning.
Astro Falcons pulled to within 3-2 in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly by Palidar that scored Laster, setting up the dramatic seventh inning showdown.
“We had a great bunch of players who gave an all-out effort every game, but that was to be expected of this entire group,” said Gibson, who will play collegiately at Mercyhurst College this fall.
Catcher-first baseman Jack Anderson is headed to Northwestern University in the fall to play for the Wildcats and major in business.
“After our loss in the first tournament game, we knew that we had to buckle down and that’s exactly what we did,” Anderson said. “This is a great group of players, a group that doesn’t know the meaning of the word quit.”
It was the third trip to the NABF senior World Series for Astro Falcons, previously winning title in 2012 and again last season.
Semifinals: Astro Falcons 12, Ohio Longhorns 2
Joe Rock scattered five hits, striking out nine while Matt Gibson, Craig Palidar and Dom Pilolli each had three hits to lead Astro Falcons to a 12-2 victory over the Ohio Longhorns in a six-inning, run-rule semi-final contest.
Pilolli added three runs batted in and scored two runs, Gibson added two r.b.i.’s and scored twice while Palidar also scored twice as well.
It didn’t take Ohio Longhorns very long to get on the board, forging the early 1-0 advantage in the opening frame after Jake Margroff led the game off with a double, advanced to third on Astros starter Joe Rock’s wild pitch then raced home on Johnny Blue’s infield grounder.
Astro Falcons got off to a good start offensively as well, knotting the game at a run apiece in their half of the inning after Matt Gibson led off with a single, scoring three batters later on Jack Anderson’s fielder’s choice.
The Astros increased their lead to 4-1 in the second frame, sending eight batters to the plate and scoring three consecutive runs on a single by Zach Campbell, a bases-loaded walk to Mike Turconi and a sacrifice fly by Jack Anderson.
They then made it 5-1 in the fourth stanza on Anderson’s second sacrifice fly of the contest.
The Longhorns cut the deficit to 5-2 in the fifth inning, scoring their second run when Drew Ellis’ single to deep short plated Brandon Bischof.
A three-run fifth by Astro Falcons increased their lead to 8-2, finishing off the contest early with a four-run sixth frame, highlighted by Pilolli’s game-ending two-run single.
JACKSON 96ers 3, RELEASE BASEBALL 0
Elisha Hickman threw a complete game two-hitter and the 96ers scored all three of their runs in the fourth inning for a 3-0 victory over Release Baseball to advance to their seventh championship game — they are 3-3 overall in six previous title tilts — since the 1994 season, all under manager Derek Topik.
Jovante Dorris, Albert Hughes, Edwin Smith and Garrett Harmon combined for the 96ers’ four safeties with Smith, Harmon and Jordan Murphy each driving in a run.
Braydon Nelson also went the distance for Release Baseball, striking out three with Nate Birtley and Dan Theberge each posting a safety.