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Tournaments  | Story  | 5/29/2022

FTB Rockets Stay Calm, Cool, And Collected

Riley Sheppard     
Photo: Ryan Liss (Perfect Game)
FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Dealing with a five-hour delay could throw a team off rhythm, but not the 17U FTB Rockets, who enter Sunday at the East Memorial Day Classic undefeated.

“They stayed off their feet and stayed in the shade, and then once the all-clear went off they were ready to go,” FTB Head Coach Shane Olive said. “I didn’t really have to do a whole lot, so I was proud of that.”



The Rockets were originally supposed to play their second game of the East Memorial Day Classic at 10:15 am, but due to lightning in the area, the game did not start until 3:15 pm.

“It was very tiring and annoying,” Rockets first baseman Ryan Liss said. “I’m just thinking about staying in the zone, listening to music, resting, staying off my feet, stuff like that.”

When things eventually got underway, the team would find themselves down early to the East Coast 2023 Aces.

Left-handed pitcher Liam Schulz would get the start for the Rockets. The 5-foot-11 lefty would surrender just one run, while punching out six batters in four innings on the mound.

The lone run from the Aces would come courtesy of a Riley Bambino liner up the middle to center field to bring Noah Alburquerque home from second base.

The Rockets would never panic however, not when they were on a long lightning delay, or when they found themselves down 1-0 entering the fourth inning.

The leadoff man in the fourth, Ayden Gurevich, would start the inning by taking first after being hit by a pitch. Aidan Chin would take his place on first base and steal second in the very next at-bat.

Georgetown commit Braxton Templin then stepped up to bat with the game tying run on second and two outs.

After fouling off three consecutive pitches, Templin found himself down 1-2 in the count with his team desperately needing a base hit. The very next pitch, a changeup that Templin would rope out to left field, would be all that was needed to bring home Chin from second.

In the very next inning, infielder Dwayne Cartwright would walk on four consecutive pitches and then steal second to put himself in scoring position as the go-ahead run.

And a go-ahead run is exactly what he would be. After a balk and wild pitch, Cartwright would make his way to home to give his team the 2-1 lead.

The Rockets then went with right-handed pitcher Grant Straub to relieve Schulz in the bottom of the fifth.

After a clutch two-out triple to right field by the Aces' designated hitter, Logan Miyar, it appeared that they would tie things up once more. But a bang-bang play at first with an outstretched arm by Liss would end the top of the fifth.

“He [Straub] just kept trying to fill it up and let his defense work and that’s exactly what they did,” Olive said. “Tyler made an unbelievable play in the whole backhand long throw and a great stretch by Ryan at first.”

A 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of sixth would finish off a 2-1 victory for the Rockets. They played directly after that win to extend their undefeated record to 3-0 with a 14-8 victory over Legends 17u Black.

The team plays their final game of pool play Sunday at 1:15 pm at South Fort Myers High against Mosteel Baseball.

“We just got to tell ourselves to just not be lazy and play with our hearts and go all out,” Liss said.
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