HAMILTON — After winning districts as 11-year-olds, the HTRBA Little League all-star baseball players are back and ready to chase the New Jersey District 12 Little League Tournament title this summer at their own Van Horn Park.
The boys from the Hamilton Township Recreation Baseball Association used a pair of first-pitch, three-run home runs from John Logorda and Austin Wright to roll to a five-inning, 11-0 win over Robbinsville in their 2022 opening-round game Saturday.
As impressive as each of those drives onto the roof of the complex’s indoor batting cages was, the only run HTRBA needed on this afternoon was provided by starting pitcher Luca Gaglione when he lofted a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded and one out in the top of the first.
Left-handed pitching Gaglione and reliever Michael Juliano did not allow an R’ville runner to reach second base over the course of the game’s five innings.
“(Gaglione) threw well,” opposing starter Danny Raftery said. “His ball was moving, but it was there to hit.”
Raftery, a veteran on Robbinsville’s 12YO squad, provided the home side with its only two hits, a two-out single in the bottom of the first and a one-out single in the fourth.
“I just try to throw strikes,” said Gaglione, who struck out five with no walks in four innings of work.
Taking the one-run lead into the third inning, HTRBA broke out for four more after Alex Alonzo doubled. Even though R’ville center fielder Ryder Horan robbed Wright of a homer with a catch over the fence for the second out, Alonzo, who moved up on that play, scored on a infield hit by Anthony Prosdocimo. Gaglione reached on an error, then Logorda unleashed the first three-run blast.
After a scoreless fourth inning, manager Jeff Prosdocimo’s team struck for six more runs with a two-run double by Ethan Willever, infield hits by Brennon Babkowski and Alex Alonzo (which pushed across Willever), then Wright’s three-run shot, which provided the chance for the 10-run rule victory.
Juliano made that stand when he came on and retired R’ville in order in the bottom of the frame, including a pair of strikeouts to end the game.
“We were just confident that we were going to win,” Gaglione said. “We still need to play our hardest from start to finish and take it one game at a time.”
HTRBA will get that chance at 2 p.m. Sunday when it takes the field versus Lawrence. Likewise, Robbinsville knows it needs to do better when it returns Tuesday to play West Windsor in a 6 p.m. elimination game.
“We need to try to get the bat on the ball more because when you put the ball in play, good things happen,” Raftery said.
HTRBA 104 06 — 11 11 0
Robbinsville 000 00 — 0 2 1
2B: AAlonzo , Willever (H); 3B: Lopez (H); HR: Logorda, Wright (H); RBIs: AAlonzo, Wright 3, Prosdocimo, Gaglione, Logorda 3, Willever 2 (H).
WP — Gaglione; LP — Raftery.