Announcement
Hustler 11U Runners-up at Upper Chesapeake Baseball Festival
Day 2 of the Upper Chesapeake Baseball Festival was eventful to say the least. We played our last game of flight play against the Piedmont Spartans at 9:00 am with temperature around 30 degrees and 50 mile per hour wind gusts. Mother Nature tried to get the best of us, but the boys held tough. Zach Oseneek reached base to start the game and scored on Mikhai Evans single. Evans later scored on Mike Dodson's sacrifice to stake us to an early 2 run lead. Colby Moran reached to lead off the second, stole second and third and scored on Dax Mitchell's sacrifice. The Hustler's exploded for 6 runs in the third inning plating Jay Parente, Mikhai Evans, Mike Dodson, Nathan Cavenee, Dominic Gomez, and Colby Moran. We added two more in the fourth as Parente and Evans scored. Parente added another run in the 6th on another Mikhai Evans hit. Twelve runs would be more than enough for another solid pitching performance. Domic Gomez started us off with two shutout ininings. Chase Baxter and Dax Mitchell pitched a solid 3rd and 4th keeping us in front and Zach Oseneek shut the door on Piedmont in the final two innings. The 12-6 victory allowed the Hustler's to earn the #1 seed going into the four team playoff.
The semi-final saw the Hustler's facing off with a rival from last year in the Hickory Hornets from Aberdeen. The Hustler's were able to get 2 runs in the second inning when Chase Baxter drove home Dominic Gomez and Jacob Stinson. These would end up being the only two runs of the game for the Hustler's. Jay Parent pitched three shutout innings to start the game off. He only allowed three runners to reach based and promptly picked one of them off first base! Mike Dodson came in to close the last three innings. The Hornets were able to plate a run in the 4th, but Dodson was dominate in the final two innings only facing 7 batters to close our a 2-1 victory, earning us a trip to the finals.
The finals saw the wind stop and the temperature hoving near almost 50 degrees. Great Baseball weather for April! Teh Delmarva Ace's out of Delaware were coming off a big win over Sandy Springs, but we came out strong in the first inning. Zach Oseneek walked and later scored on Mikhai Evans single. Evans was plated by Mike Dodson's single and the Hustler's jumped out to a 2-0 lead. Colby Moran led off the second with a single, stole second and took two bases on a beautiful sacrific bunt by Dax Mitchell stake us to and early 3-0 lead. Dax Mitchell shut down the explosive Ace's bats and held them scoreless over the first 3 innings. Delmarva's bats came alive in the final 3 innings scoring 7 runs and putting the Hustler down 7-3. The Hustler's showed a lot of fight as Mikhai Evans unloaded with a triple and scored on a Mike Dodson single in the 6th. The Huslter's loaded the bases but failed to plate another run falling 7-4. It was a great weekend of baseball for the boys!
