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PORTAGE, Pa. – Altoona-2 ******* Motors rode a strong start from Kade Sell to take down the Brooklyn Nighthawks with a 6-3 triumph during opening day of the All American Amateur Baseball Association Tournament at Pete Haschak Memorial Field.
The contest featured an impressive pitching duel between the starters. Both earned a quality start, keeping things very close entering the final innings of the game. Sell headlined the battle, going seven innings, allowing three runs on six hits and four walks, earning the win.
Brooklyn's starter, Adrian Hernandez, went six innings and gave up three runs, with five hits and five walks.
"Game plan was just to get ahead in counts," Sell said. "Throw strikes, get ahead, get outs and get weak contact. Strikeouts are great, but weak contact was pretty much the goal."
After Sell's afternoon was over, Pitt-Johnstown's Alex Neidig came in to relief and earned the save across two scoreless innings.
"We've got that from them (Sell and Neidig) all year," ******* Motors manager Chris Sanders said. "Just throws well, pitches well. It takes a lot to rattle him (Sell). Neidig came in and shut it down. It was a great one-two punch. I've always said, you've got to win Game 1 to get to Game 2."
The game started with a strong first inning from Altoona. Braden Hatch drove in the first run with a double over the right fielder's head.
Brooklyn immediately responded as Pablo Aquino mashed a home run to dead center, tying the game at 1-all.
It stayed tied for a couple of innings before Brooklyn started to rally together. After a leadoff double, miscommunication on a sacrifice bunt put runners on the corners with no outs. Sell picked the runner off at first, but a walk put runners on the corners for Robert Herrera, who drove a line drive to the gap that just got under the diving attempt, turning it into a two-run triple.
Sell escaped that inning and followed with four scoreless frames.
Following that third inning, Altoona chipped away with a solo home run from Isaac Tiracorda, cutting Brooklyn's lead to one.
Both teams loaded the bases in the fifth, but couldn't capitalize. Then in the six, Donald Miller tied the game at 3-all with a single to left-center field.
From there, ******* Motors took the momentum and rode with it the rest of the way. Alex Ebeling hit the go-ahead sacrifice fly. Altoona nearly scored another in the seventh on a double, but Aquino threw out a runner at the plate.
In the bottom of the eighth, Sell walked the leadoff batter, bringing in Neidig. On a bunt attempt, catcher Nate Helms back picked the runner at first, taking the tying run off the bases.
"After the first pitch, we agreed that we were gonna sacrifice," Brooklyn manager Richard Corbo said. "No one out, I have somebody with the tying run on second base, so why not? So I'm trying to play that match."
Not getting the bunt down cost the Nighthawks a baserunner, but with an error, they quickly got the tying run on base again. They tried to move him into scoring position early the next at-bat and attempted to steal, but Helms once again threw out a runner.
"Nate Helms has been with me for three years and that kid is a bulldog," Sanders said. "He's a leader on this team. Works hard, does everything the right way. Yeah, I thought that (those throws) was big."
Altoona added two more runs in the ninth inning off run-scoring singles from Cooper Rother and Oliver Thornburg. Neidig finished it out with a perfect frame, moving ******* Motors to 1-0 in pool play.
Altoona-2 faces Martella's Pharmacy at noon Tuesday at Sargent's Stadium at the Point. Brooklyn will meet Butler at noon Tuesday at Roxbury Park.
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The contest featured an impressive pitching duel between the starters. Both earned a quality start, keeping things very close entering the final innings of the game. Sell headlined the battle, going seven innings, allowing three runs on six hits and four walks, earning the win.
Brooklyn's starter, Adrian Hernandez, went six innings and gave up three runs, with five hits and five walks.
"Game plan was just to get ahead in counts," Sell said. "Throw strikes, get ahead, get outs and get weak contact. Strikeouts are great, but weak contact was pretty much the goal."
After Sell's afternoon was over, Pitt-Johnstown's Alex Neidig came in to relief and earned the save across two scoreless innings.
"We've got that from them (Sell and Neidig) all year," ******* Motors manager Chris Sanders said. "Just throws well, pitches well. It takes a lot to rattle him (Sell). Neidig came in and shut it down. It was a great one-two punch. I've always said, you've got to win Game 1 to get to Game 2."
The game started with a strong first inning from Altoona. Braden Hatch drove in the first run with a double over the right fielder's head.
Brooklyn immediately responded as Pablo Aquino mashed a home run to dead center, tying the game at 1-all.
It stayed tied for a couple of innings before Brooklyn started to rally together. After a leadoff double, miscommunication on a sacrifice bunt put runners on the corners with no outs. Sell picked the runner off at first, but a walk put runners on the corners for Robert Herrera, who drove a line drive to the gap that just got under the diving attempt, turning it into a two-run triple.
Sell escaped that inning and followed with four scoreless frames.
Following that third inning, Altoona chipped away with a solo home run from Isaac Tiracorda, cutting Brooklyn's lead to one.
Both teams loaded the bases in the fifth, but couldn't capitalize. Then in the six, Donald Miller tied the game at 3-all with a single to left-center field.
From there, ******* Motors took the momentum and rode with it the rest of the way. Alex Ebeling hit the go-ahead sacrifice fly. Altoona nearly scored another in the seventh on a double, but Aquino threw out a runner at the plate.
In the bottom of the eighth, Sell walked the leadoff batter, bringing in Neidig. On a bunt attempt, catcher Nate Helms back picked the runner at first, taking the tying run off the bases.
"After the first pitch, we agreed that we were gonna sacrifice," Brooklyn manager Richard Corbo said. "No one out, I have somebody with the tying run on second base, so why not? So I'm trying to play that match."
Not getting the bunt down cost the Nighthawks a baserunner, but with an error, they quickly got the tying run on base again. They tried to move him into scoring position early the next at-bat and attempted to steal, but Helms once again threw out a runner.
"Nate Helms has been with me for three years and that kid is a bulldog," Sanders said. "He's a leader on this team. Works hard, does everything the right way. Yeah, I thought that (those throws) was big."
Altoona added two more runs in the ninth inning off run-scoring singles from Cooper Rother and Oliver Thornburg. Neidig finished it out with a perfect frame, moving ******* Motors to 1-0 in pool play.
Altoona-2 faces Martella's Pharmacy at noon Tuesday at Sargent's Stadium at the Point. Brooklyn will meet Butler at noon Tuesday at Roxbury Park.
Continue reading...
