FORT MYERS, Fla. – A balanced offensive attack has the Northeast riding high, as they continued their momentum coming off of a 2-0 day on Tuesday by taking down another previously unbeaten in Central Florida, 10-2, to move to 3-0 in pool play at the Sophomore PG Series Classic.
Day 1 of tournament play saw Northeast notch 8-0 and 8-5 victories over Central and South respectively, setting up the lone matchup of unbeaten teams, in which five made it through unscathed on Tuesday. Southwest, Puerto Rico Red and South Florida all dropped early morning contests, leaving Northeast and Central Florida to duke it out to try and stay the lone unbeaten club in the tournament.
In the second inning, Northeast jumped out front with two runs coming on back-to-back RBI singles from Austin Palacios (2019, Pembroke Pines, Fla.) and Peyton Olinski (2019, Fairport, N.Y.), the eighth and ninth place hitters in the order.
After Central Florida got a run closer at 2-1 in the top of the third, Northeast would push across four runs, all with two outs. Starting pitcher Ryan Pitts (2019, Nazareth, Pa.) singled to center and scored on a double into the left field corner off the bat of Peter Gallo (2019, Asbury, N.J.).
Avery Cook (2019, Utica, N.Y.) kept the line moving with a drive into the gap in left-center for another RBI double, and after another run came via a fielding error, Robert Beyer (2019, Bedford, N.Y.) punched an RBI single to center to make it a 6-1 Northeast lead.
Pitts was very effective on the mound, allowing a run on one hit, walking two and picked up a pair of strikeouts in four innings of work.
Cook delivered another run to give Northeast a 7-1 advantage as he bounced a ground ball through the right side to collect his second RBI of the game in the fifth.
Central Florida pushed across a run in the top of the sixth, but Northeast would put the game away with three runs in the bottom of the inning, with the game-ending run scoring via a wild pitch.
Stephen Posner (2019, Downingtown, Pa.) was solid in relief of Pitts as he went the final two innings, allowing an unearned run on two hits.
Northeast head coach Angel Peguero, who just finished his first year as an assistant coach at New Mexico Military Institute after playing there and at Grambling State as an outfielder, resides in New Jersey which offers some common ground for his players to relate to and be able to communicate effectively being not far removed from his playing days in college.
“Being able to reach out to these kids on a more personal level, because I’ve been in their shoes trying to play at the next level and doing so,” Peguero said. “Even though this a showcase-type tournament, I try to keep these guys loose and get some pressure off of them. I put it upon myself to come to the field with that energy, and if I can get them motivated, it allows them just to have fun and just go play.”
Peguero has relished the opportunities to coach in the Series events coming off of his first year in coaching, and feels the experience he is getting will be invaluable moving forward.
“The whole experience has been really fun for me getting into coaching, and as I get more experience under my belt, I can take what I have learned back to my school and use it to my benefit. I hope I get to return next summer because it’s been awesome.”
Peguero likes how the Series can expose his players to test themselves at different positions, and was pleased with the willingness of his team to do so.
“When you come into the week with a new team, I put it on the kids to tell me where they are comfortable most, but also tell them that I may need them somewhere else and to be ready. These kids are unselfish and want to learn different aspects of playing different positions.”
Offensively, Vincent Bianchi (2019, Middletown, N.J.), Cook and Gallo have led the way with five hits each though three games, with Cook leading Northeast with five RBI in the three games heading into their last pool play game against Puerto Rico White on Thursday.