The Westchester Babe Ruth 14u baseball all star team defeated Northeast Regional Champion , Connecticut 18-4 in the first game of World Series pool play Saturday.
Westchester jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on an LJ Gilliam double, a Matthew Kanfer single and after a walk and a hit by pitch, a Carlos Jacobo sacrifice fly to center.
Southbury scored a single run in the bottom of the first. Westchester added to it’s lead after Gilliam was hit by a pitch, advanced to second on a balk, and then scored again on a Kanfer single.
Westchester broke the game open in the third, scoring four more on singles by Jacobo, Avery Allen, Matthew Kaplan, and a double by Kanfer, making the score 7-1.
Westchester wasn’t done offensively, scoring there more in the fourth on singles by Allen, Ethan Lazar, Gilliam and a double by Kanfer. Southbury came back for three in the bottom of the fourth, knocking out Westchester starter
In the next game, the team lost to Jacksonville 10-2 in pool play. Westchester had numerous opportunities to score, but just couldn’t get a key hit when necessary.
Jacksonville struck first with four runs in the top of first on two hits and some aggressive base running. Westchester came back loading the bases on walks LJ Gilliam, Grant Craddolph and Anthony Chavez. Carlos Jacobo knocked in the lone run on a hard grounder to second.
Jacksonville scored three in the top of the third, extending their lead to 7-1.
Angel (Gator) de la Torre replaced starting pitcher Matthew Kaplan to start the fourth inning, yielding one run.
Jacksonville connected for two runs in the top of the seventh to make the score 10-1. Westchester scored a run in the top of the seventh on singles by Matthew Kanfer and Craddolph and a sacrifice fly by Jacobo.
Westchester continues in pool play with games against Washington on Monday and Utah on Wednesday. Three of the five teams in Westchester’s pool will advance to the single elimination championship round beginning on Thursday.
Anthony Chavez. Reggie Castro came in and shut down the rally, preserving Westchester’s 10-4 lead.
Neither team scored until the seventh when Westchester exploded for eight additional runs, with a booming double by Jacobo and a double to right center by Christian Amador, highlighting the explosion.
Matthew Kaplan, starting first basemen, commented “Connecticut played well early. We had some hits fall and the ln things got rolling. I expect that Connecticut will be a major factor in this tournament.”