The 10U Hustlers traveled to Ellicott City to participate in the Maryland Stars and Strikes tournament on Saturday. The Hustlers had been playing much better baseball over their last four games, and things continued on this long holiday weekend. The Hustlers opened with BCCC Warriors Saturday morning. BCCC plated 3 runs in the first, but the Hustlers topped that with 4 in the bottom of the first, and 4 more in the second. This ended up being a tight game, but the Hustlers held on the win 10-9. Ryan Jones had 3 hits including a triple, while Connor Allen had two hits including a double. Camren Baker, Mason Miller, Landon Johnson, Tyler Schroyer, and Brett Lucas each had 1 hit. Logan Malachowski pitched the first two innings, Mason Miller pitched 3 innings, and Tyler Schroyer came on in the last inning to shut the doors on the Warriors. Game two on Saturday was a pitcher’s duel, as the Hustlers faced the Diamond Dodger Skills. Ryan Jones and Tyler Schroyer each pitched great baseball, but a few miscues in the field allowed the Dodger skills to plate 3 unearned runs, and the Hustlers lost the game by a score of 4-3. Jones pitched 3& 2/3 innings, allowing 1 earned run, and Schroyer pitched 1&1/3 inning, allowing no earned runs. Camren Baker had two hits, while Jones, Landon Johnson, double, Schroyer, Logan Malachowski, Jaxson Wood, and Landon Tolber each had 1 hit. Sunday, the Hustlers started with the WHC Renegades, who won the 9A bracket in this tournament last year. The Hustlers quickly put an end to the Renegades tournament, by jumping on top with 4 runs in the first, and continued chipping away each inning, and went on to take an 8-2 victory from the Renegades. Again, as was the case all weekend, the Hustlers got great pitching from the entire staff. Brett Lucas pitched 3 innings allowing no runs, with 4K’s. Connor Allen pitched two innings, and Tyler Schroyer shutdown the Renegades in the last inning. Camren Baker had 2 hits, while Ryan Jones, Allen, Mason Miller, Landon Johnson, Schroyer, Logan Malachowski, Killian Stair, and Jaxson Wood each had 1 hit. Malachowski, Miller, Schroyer, and Wood each doubled. Game 4 had the Hustlers facing a very tough Bel Air team from the CRAB League. This was a 2-2 game going into the 3rd inning, when the Hustlers plated 3 in the 3rd, and 3 more in the 4th, and went on to take a big time victory over a good team by the score of 8-5. Landon Johnson pitched 4 great innings on the hill, allowing only 3 earned runs. Tyler Schroyer pitched a scoreless final two innings to shutdown Bel Air. Connor Allen led the way for the Hustlers with 3 hits, while Jaxson Wood had 2 hits. Camren Baker, Ryan Jones, Mason Miller, Landon Johnson, Logan Malachowski, and Landon Tolbert each had 1 hit. Malachowski and Baker each tripled. Monday,s semifinals had the Hustlers facing the API team from the CRAB league. Again, this was another tight game. The Hustlers fell behind 2-1 after 3 innings, but plated 4 runs in the 4th, and held on to win by a score of 5-4. Ryan Jones pitched 3 innings, allowing 1 earned run, with 5 K’s, and Tyler Schroyer pitched 3 innings, allowing 1 earned run. API had runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out in the bottom of the 6th, but Schroyer got a short fly ball to Left field, and a bloop fly ball to Short, and hold the game for the Hustlers. Landon Johnson had 2 hits, while Camren Baker, Ryan Jones, Connor Allen, Tyler Schroyer, and Logan Malachowski each had 1 hit. Malachowski, Schroyer, and Johnson each doubled. The championship game, which was game 6 of the weekend for the Hustlers, had them facing the Diamond Dodger Skills team, who just 10 runned a good KMS Baseball team from the CRAB league. This was a back and forth game. The Hustlers fell behind by a 4-2 score after 2 innings, but plated 2 in the 4th, and 3 more in the 4th. The Dodger Skills opened the bottom of the 6th down 7-5. They scored a run to make it 7-6, and had runners at 2nd and 3rd with 1 out. The Hustlers elected to walk a big stick by the name of Kroll to load the bases. That is when Brett Lucas went to work on the mound. He induced a popup to himself, and a ground ball to Killian Stair at second base, and the Hustlers took home the Championship game by a score of 7-6. Lucas pitched a wonderful 4 innings of baseball allowing 1 earned run. Logan Malachowski pitched the first two innings for the Hustlers. Camren baker, Killian Stair, Brett Lucas, and Jaxson Wood each had 2 hits, while Ryan Jones, Connor Allen, Malachowski, and Landon Tolbert each had 1 hit. Jones doubled. The Hustler pitchers were awesome all weekend long. Leading hitters for the weekend: Camren Baker .500, Connor Allen .500, Ryan Jones .471, Jaxson Wood .462, Landon Johnson .333, and Logan Malachowski .333.