The Stratford Titans U13 baseball team finished in third place at the Baseball Heaven Summer Classic held in Yaphank, NY.
The Titans won their pool play going 3-0 to reach the semi-finals where they dropped a hard fought 10-5 battle to the South Jersey Elite.
In game one of the tournament, the Titans came out swinging against the Gray Storm from Sayville, NY winning 9-1. AJ Fabbri led the attack going 2 for 4 with a home run, triple and three RBI. Chris O’Brien and Tommy Sweeney both went 2 for 3 with an RBI and Christian Bradley went 1 for 2 with two RBI to lead an 11 hit barrage. Chris O’Brien pitched 3 innings for the win with Adam Wojenski in relief.
Game two featured a must-win match up against the undefeated Cage 16 Bombers out of Bayport, NY. Christian Bradley took the hill and threw a complete game five-hitter to earn a hard fought 6-2 win.
The Titans were led offensively by Neil Velasquez who went 2 for 3 with one RBI, Chris O’Brien 2 for 3, two runs scored and two RBI, Zach Piroh 1 for 3, one run scored, Zach Dunkel 1 for 2 with one RBI and Christian Bradley who helped his own cause going 1 for 2 with two RBI.
Defensively, the Titans played error-free baseball led by Dunkel was stellar behind the plate picking off a runner at first to help stop a rally in the fourth inning while Nicko Nolting (SS) and Adam Wojenski (2B) have developed into the best U13 double play combination in the state.
With the Titans needing to win their final pool play game to advance to the semi’s, Zach Piroh got the call against the Bergen County Lightening out of New Jersey.
Piroh delivered throwing four innings of one-hit ball while recording three strikeouts. Offensively, the Titans where once again led by AJ Fabbri who went 2 for 3 with run scored and one RBI, Christian Bradley, 2 for 3 with two RBI and Adam Wojenski who went 2 for 3 with two RBI and one run scored to pace the Titans to a 13 -2 victory.
In the semi-final round, the Titans sent Fabbri to the bump. The Titans struck early against the South Jersey Elite holding a 4-2 lead after two innings. In the bottom of third, the Titans were nicked for five runs and trailed 9-4. They fought back for a run in the top fourth to close the gap to 9-5 but couldn’t muster a charge the rest of the way against a hard throwing righty that mixed pitches well.
The Titans banged out seven hits led by O’Brien 1 for 2, Piroh 1 for 3 with one RBI, Velasquez 1 for 2 with an RBI, Dunkel 1 for 2 with an RBI and Ryan Matto 1 for 2 with a double.
Team Photo:
Front Row (L-R) Tommy Sweeney, Zach Piroh, AJ Fabbri
Back Row (L-R) Adam Wojenski, Zach Dunkel, Coach Steve Piroh, Christian Bradley, Ryan Matto, Chris O’Brien, Neil Velasquez, Miles Richards, Brandon Cartagena, Coach Joel Dunkel, Nicko Nolting (missing from photo Coach Paul Fabbri)
The Stratford Titans under the Stratford Baseball Association are one of the premier travel baseball organizations in Fairfield County. For more information, visit www.stratfordtitans.com.
