Central Amherst 'AA Sr.' Yankees open postseason with win oven Cubs

The Central Amherst "AA Sr." Yankees started off the playoffs with a win, beating the Cubs 9-7.

The Cubs jumped out to a 1-0 lead after the first inning, highlighted by a single by Steve Vukelic. The Cubs' Reed Bihary pitched a strong first inning, allowing no runs on two hits. Bihary also came up with a nice defensive play, snagging a grounder hit between the pitcher's mound and first base and beating the runner to the bag for the first out of the inning. Offensive highlights for the Yankees included singles by Jonathan Zarzecki and Tommy Gioia.

The Yankees added three runs in the top of the second with Sam Lobuzzetta providing the spark with an RBI single.

The Cubs stormed back, scoring six runs in the bottom of the inning to give the Cubs a 7-3 lead. Aubrey Rockoff got things started with a single. Bihary added a two-RBI base hit. Vukelic followed with a double and Liam Sullivan blasted another two-RBI hit into left center field.

The Yankees kept fighting, adding three more runs to their total in the third. Gioia led off with a single and Alex Rodriguez followed with another single. Joe Miller was hit with a pitch to load up the bases. Three successive walks by Alex Kracker, Jimmy Featherstone, and Zarzecki made the score 7-6. Lobuzzetta pitched a strong third inning for the Yankees, allowing two hits by Max Marko and Rockoff, and striking out three, to hold the Cubs scoreless in the bottom of the inning.

The Yankees stayed on the offensive, adding three more runs to take the lead in the top of the fourth. Lobuzzetta led off with a single and Jonathan Spina added a double to center field to make the score 9-7. Lobuzzetta continued his strong pitching in the fourth, striking out two and catching a pop-up to the mound to keep the Cubs off the scoreboard for another inning. Lobuzzetta then got things going in the top of the fifth for the Yankees, blasting a double into center field. The Yankees loaded the bases, but could not manage to bring a man home.

Gioia took over the pitching duties for the Yankees and started out great, striking out the first two batters he faced. The next batter smashed a line drive to first base where Spina made a terrific play, stabbing it in mid-air for the final out.

The Cubs held the Yankees scoreless once again in the top of the sixth. Bihary made a terrific defensive play at first base, snagging a hard-hit grounder and stepping on the bag for the first out of the inning.

The Cubs came to bat in the bottom of the sixth down two runs. Gioia continued his strong pitching, again striking out the first two batters of the inning. The Cubs then made it interesting, loading the bases on a walk and back-to-back singles from Alex Cacciotti, and Matt Boccio but Gioia struck out the next batter to preserve the Yankee win.

Tigers 14, Cardinals 8

The Tigers' Cam Ciesielski led off the game with a long double and eventually scored after walks to Noah Reinhart, Ryan Steggs, and Kyle Blenman.

After Dakota Davis was hit by a pitch, Tyler Probst walked to make the score 3-0.

Michael Greco scored the long run for the Cardinals in their half of the first.

The Tigers struck for four runs in the second. Singles by Ciesielski, Reinhart, and Steggs mingled with walks to Ian Snyder, Derek Alford, Cole Sackel, and Jake Maley upped the score to 7-1 after two innings.

In the fourth, three hit batsmen and four walks produced four more runs.

The Cardinals came back with five runs in the half of the inning but the Cardinals put the game away in the fifth as hits by Cielsielski, Reinhart, Steggs, Snyder, and a double by Kyle Blenman plated three more runs.

The Cardinals scored two runs in their half of the inning but fell short as the Tigers triumphed 14-8.

The defensive play of the game was made by Snyder, who snagged a line drive with the bases loaded, stepped on third, and tagged the runner from second to complete an unassisted triple play.

Red Sox 11, Orioles 0

The Red Sox started out their playoff season strong, defeating the Orioles, 11-0. Great play by all members of the team contributed to their first shutout of the year.

Bo Stroud pitched three superb innings followed by Andrew Hill, who kept the Orioles scoreless throughout the rest of the game. Stroud was at the top of the batting order and soon found himself on base as did Will Sanderson.

During the game, the Orioles walked several players, including Natalie Blatz, Kate Scaduto, and Will Nowak which helped add runs for the Red Sox. Zach Wing advanced Stroud with a stand-up double out to center field. Both runners made it home as did Eric Shafer and Grey Grohman. P.J. Wing would not be denied his turn on base as he slammed the ball far enough for a base hit which scored another run.

Hill and teammates made great defensive plays all game and kept the Orioles scoreless as they threatened to score in the last inning.

'Major' baseball

Orioles 15, Yankees 7

The Orioles opened the playoffs with some timely hitting and nice fielding to take a 15-7 victory against the Yankees.

The Orioles' hitting attack was led by Nick Hillebrand with a 5 for 5 performance along with strong pitching (four strikeouts). Also having multiple hits were Eric Ruh and Andrew Pierino, with three hits each, along with Airic Thornton and Michael Spina, who had two each. Ruh was also solid on the mound with three strikeouts.

The Orioles' CJ Westcott made a nice catch in center field to be followed up by a diving catch by Pierino in right to end the fifth inning. Jake Alessandra and Robert Rummings led the Yankees offense with two hits each along with strong pitching by Ben Morina. Cloogie Barnett made two nice plays at second base in the sixth to halt the Oriole attack.

'AA Jr.' baseball

Orioles 12, Red Sox 4

The Orioles played their best game all season when they beat the Red Sox, 12-4.

All players contributed to the win. Colin Blatz nailed several balls and sent them to the outfield as did Emily Morina, Victoria Monetti, and Brian Comerford.

When the Red Sox threatened to increase their runs by a hit to right field, Anthony Fago made a terrific stop and scooped up the ball to make an out at first base when Garren Dudad caught the ball in his glove like a snow cone.

As the Orioles continued to bat, they got great hits by Anthony Cavalieri, Theodore Gogos, and Spencer Wing, who crushed the ball into the outfield for a double.

Great hits and defensive plays by Mitchell Farrar and the rest of the team kept the Red Sox at four runs.