Bayonne Babe Ruth baseball fans were treated to an exciting best of three championship series battle between AFC and Beilan Law at Don Ahern Veterans Memorial Stadium. AFC took the series crown in two games.
In game one. AFC defeated Beilan Law 6-4 on a stellar pitching performance by Anthony Granconieri. Beilan scored an unearned run in the top of the 3rd to take a 1-0 lead. AFC answered back by scoring four runs in their half of the 3rd for a 4-1 lead. AFC extended their lead in the 5th when Steve Racki singled in Dave Veguilla and Mike Sullivan for his 3rd and 4th RBI’s of the game to make it 6-3. Beilan continued to chip away at AFC’s lead, scoring one unearned run in each of the 4th, 5th, and 6th frames to pull within 2 runs for a 6-4 score. To make matters interesting, Beilan loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the 7th against the AFC’s Sean Lavin in relief of Fanconieri. Lavin picked up the pace by striking out the next three batters he faced to keep Beilan in check and preserve the AFC victory. Hitting stars for AFC were Dave Veguilla, Mike Sullivan, and Racki with two hits each, Lavin, Gilbert (Macho) Diaz, and Kevin Lazaro with one hit a piece. Shane Paradine and Anthony Greco have one hit each for Beilan in a losing cause.
In game two, AFC jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the 1st when Dave Veguilla came through with a two out single to score Joe Bermudez and Sean Lavin. AFC extended their lead to 5-0 in the top of the second when Bermudez drove in two with a triple scoring Dylan Sadiq and Kevin Lazaro, and then Lavin followed with his third hit of the series to score Bermudez. AFC’s starting pitcher Mike Sullivan, who surrendered only two hits on the night to Beilan’s Andrew Galano, suddenly ran into problems with his control. Beilan took advantage and made it interesting again in consecutive innings and battled back for a 5-4 score in the fifth. Sullivan helped his own cause with a double to left in the sixth and scored as the ball got by the Beilan left fielder for a two-base error to increase AFC’s lead to 6-4. Rookie right hander Steven Racki was called upon in relief of Sullivan and came up big for his AFC team by pitching two scoreless innings, striking out the side in the sixth. Racki was aided in the field by the outstanding defensive play by Sean Lavin in the seventh with three outstanding plays at short for the AFC 6-4 victory, and the 2014 Bayonne Babe Ruth Crown. Mike Sullivan earned the mounted victory. Hitting stars for AFC were Bermudez, Sullivan, and Veguilla with one hit each and Lavin with two.
Congratulations to AFC Manager, Tony Constantino, and his staff Izzy Delgado, Billy Grapstul, Pete Seibel II, and Rob Smith for leading the AFC to the Babe Ruth League Championship.
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