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Tournaments  | Story  | 7/3/2022

Team Francisco Wins For Its Family

Riley Sheppard     
Photo: Perfect Game
FORT MYERS, Fla. -- With an emphasis on family comes first, Team Francisco Notorious 16U has propelled themselves into No. 37 in the national rankings.

“I preach family, so I got these guys three years ago and we've preached family from day one and they just totally bought into it,” Head Coach Joe Fusco said postgame.



The team has started 2-0 at the PG Freedom Classic, with the latter of their two victories coming in the form of a 3-1 win over SBO Florida 16u.

Right-hander Nick Walker received the start, tossing a one-run complete game on just 74 pitches.

Walker’s six strikeouts continued a dominant trend from the pitching staff so far, allowing just one run to go along with 16 strikeouts through two games.

“We’ve been effective, we mix it really well, we got guys to pound the zone, so that’s a huge thing,” Fusco said postgame. “We emphasize throwing strikes, we emphasize mixing it up, so they’ve done a great job the first two days.”

Ryan Kiendle was the first run of the ballgame for Team Francisco. He took the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the second inning for a leadoff double and promptly stole third base, and a sac fly from Nickolas Berasti was all it took to bring him home.

Still up 1-0 entering the top of the fourth, a six-pitch walk from Ryan Adams kicked off a two-run inning for his club. Zach Rosenzweig followed up his walk by not wasting anytime, sending the first pitch he saw into the right field gap for a triple to bring Adams home. Berasti rewarded Rosenzweig for his triple by bringing him in the next at-bat with a single out to left field.

After giving up his lone run in the bottom of the fifth, Walker continued his dominance, retiring the side in the final two innings with just 12 pitches.

With their 2-0 start to the PG Freedom Classic, Team Francisco is now in the winners bracket and tasked with a win-or-go-home scenario from here on out.

The versatility his players have around the field is why Fusco believes his club can go back to New York with a trophy to show for their efforts.

“I play everybody rotationally. Everybody moves in and out, every single guy sits one game at the minimum in a tournament,” Fusco said postgame. “Just because they're 14 guys who can play position players, they're studs, so I move guys in and out and they're great.”
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