FORT MYERS, Fla. – A pitcher’s duel came down to one swing of the bat from one of the righthanders tied up in a tight game. Stephen Posner’s RBI single in the bottom of the sixth inning put Northeast ahead for good as they defeated Central Florida 2-1 to take the championship belt in the PG Sophomore Series Classic.
In a matchup of a pool play contest earlier in the week, in which Northeast had no trouble at all dispatching Central Florida 10-2, the two teams forged their way to Friday’s championship game by winning early morning semifinal matchups. Northeast continued their undefeated week by beating South Florida 8-2, while Central Florida took down Central 4-2 to set up a rematch of the top two teams for the week.
In the first, Central Florida jumped in front three batters in after a leadoff walk, a double by Konnor Stone (2019, Naples, Fla.) and an RBI groundout by Grant Foreman (2019, Pinecrest, Fla.) to put Northeast in a rare deficit for the tournament.
In the second, Northeast would square the game after Peyton Olinski (2019, Fairport, N.Y.) singled to center field with two outs, that sent Kyle Jenkins (2019, Wading River, N.Y.) to third, but the throw in skittered away from the Central Florida catcher that allowed Jenkins to race home with heads-up baserunning.
Posner (2017, Downingtown, Pa.) and Central Florida’s Kelle Grau (2019, Fort Myers, Fla.) would stymie the opposition on the mound, limiting traffic on the basepaths and putting zeroes on the scoreboard from the second inning all the way to the fifth.
Central Florida generated a threat in the sixth, as they would find themselves with two men on with one out. Posner would get out of trouble by getting a pair of fly outs to keep the game tied.
In the bottom half of the inning, Grau retired the first two Northeast hitters before plunking Peter Gallo (2019, Asbury, N.J.) and allowing an Avery Cook (2019, Utica, N.Y.) single that moved Gallo up to third.
Posner stepped to the plate and smoked a ground ball through the left side, scoring Gallo to put Northeast back out in front 2-1. The lead could have grown to two as Vincent Bianchi (2019, Middletown, N.J.) lined a single to right, but Central Florida right fielder Michael Mullins (2019, Odessa, Fla.) nailed Cook at the plate to hold the deficit to just a lone run.
Posner went back out to try to finish the game, and allowed a one-out single to Mullins, who would get himself into scoring position by stealing second still with one out. Posner would get a groundout to third and a flyout to left to finish the job and wrap up an undefeated week for coach Angel Peguero and his club.
“Posner threw well earlier in the week and we really didn’t have any arms left outside of him in the championship game and I knew he’d give us a shot to win,” Peguero said. “That was by far the tightest game we’d played so far, and we had to face some adversity falling behind early but I told the guys to not press and keep having fun and play our game. It was great to see them pull it off and I couldn’t have asked for a better group of guys to coach this week.”
The individual awards for the week both went home to the victors, as Gallo earned Most Valuable Player, batting .500 (8-for-16) and drove in five runs. Olinski won Most Valuable Pitcher, going 2-0 for the week and struck out five batters in nine innings of work.
2017 Sophomore PG Series Classic runner-up: Central Florida
2017 Sophomore PG Series Classic MVP: Peter Gallo
2017 Sophomore PG Series Classic MV-Pitcher Peyton Olinski
