Stallions Break Into Win Column Versus Santaluces

Nathan Zuckerman paced the Stallions’ offense by driving in five runs.

On Tuesday night, the American Heritage Stallions began the 2015 season on a sour note, dropping a hotly contested 11 inning battle against Jupiter. On Wednesday night, in their second game of the Santaluces SLAM Tournament, they not only made up for the loss, they also got back some of those extra innings, defeating the Santaluces Chiefs by a score of 10-0 and ending the game after five innings via the mercy rule.

Twins Nathan and Eli Zuckerman led the way for Heritage. Nathan drove home half of the Stallions’ runs by rapping three opposite-field singles in four at-bats and Eli tossed three scoreless innings in his first ever varsity mound appearance.

For Nathan, the big night was a relief after he wore the collar in the game against Jupiter, going 0-for-4.

“After last night I kind of needed to get a better approach at the plate and try to drive the ball the other way,” said Nathan. “And it happened.”

Also playing a part for the Stallions was the twilight sky. With a 6:30 start time at Santaluces Sports Complex, the evening light was a key factor in two of the four runs Heritage plated in the top of the first inning.

With one on and one down, Tyler Frank lobbed a ball into shallow center field. The Chiefs’ second baseman, shortstop and center fielder all converged on it but none were able to locate it against the darkening sky and it dropped in for a single.

Santluces’ starter Austin Smith, also making his varsity pitching premier, struck out the next batter, putting himself in good position to work out of the jam. He fell behind Zach Schneider 3-0 in the next at-bat though, and Chiefs’ manager Nick Franco opted for the intentional walk to load the bases and set up a play at any base. Again, Smith did his part, jumping out to a 0-2 lead on Jack Campbell before inducing a routine fly ball to left field. Chiefs’ left fielder Chris Morgia did his best to track it down, but like his teammates, was unable to get an eye on it. It dropped in behind him, giving Campbell a double and two RBIs.

“The first two balls off the bat, I did not see,” said Heritage manager Carm Mazza. “It’s a tough, tough sky here at six thirty, you know, so you just have to pay attention and we got lucky with that, we really did.”

Nathan Zuckerman made his own luck in the following at-bat, ripping a ground ball into right field to bring in two more runs and extend the lead to 4-0.

A.J. Orrico reached base in all three of his plate appearances.

Justin Barney and Michael Malinchak kept the hits coming, each singling to load the bases yet again. Malinchak’s base hit was inches from being much more. A blazing ground ball right at the second base bag, Santaluces shortstop A.J. Orrico made a diving stop to keep it out of the outfield, preventing a run from scoring by forcing Nathan to hold at third.

When Brendan Brundage hit a fly ball to center field in the next at-bat, the Santaluces dugout held their breath, but the Chiefs’ defense was able to get an eye on it this time and reign it in for the final out.

“We struggled tonight,” commented Franco after the game. “The first inning really dictated the game. I think the twilight messed with our outfielders, they didn’t see the ball off the bat, unfortunately and [Heritage] capitalized.”

The Stallions got right back to work in their second set of at-bats, scoring three more runs courtesy of two errors, two walks and another two-run single by Nathan Zuckerman.

After that, Brundage, who was also the starting pitcher for the Stallions, moved into center field and made way for Eli Zuckerman. He struck out the first batter he faced and said that helped to calm the nerves that came with his first varsity pitching experience.

“A little bit,” answered Eli when asked if he felt any pressure. “But once I got the first strike out, it went pretty clear from there.”

He allowed three hits and fanned one more while keeping the Chiefs off the score board and closing out the game for the Stallions.

“My fastball was working good today,” Eli continued. “It had a lot of sink to it. I was throwing it effectively.”

Of the three hits he allowed, two were against Orrico, who has been a bright spot in a Santaluces lineup that has otherwise struggled. The freshman shortstop, who was responsible for the Chiefs lone hit on Tuesday night, also drew a walk to lead of the bottom of the first on Wednesday evening, making him a perfect 2-for-2 on the night.

“He’s done a really nice job for a young hitter,” Franco said, “but the older guys need to stay within themselves and start putting the ball in play hard.”

Errors and walks once again plagued the Chiefs in the top half of the fifth inning, allowing Heritage to plate three more runs and giving them the requisite 10-0 lead to put the mercy rule in effect.

The Chiefs made an attempt to keep the game alive in the bottom half. Kyle Swaters and Orrico chalked up back-to-back base hits with two outs but Heritage catcher Chris Canavan ended the game by gunning down Swaters when he strayed a little to far from the second base bag.

Eli Zuckerman made his varsity pitching debut.

With a young and relatively inexperienced squad at Santaluces, Franco knew coming into the season that there would be growing pains.

“We just struggled mightily tonight and we can’t worry about it,” said the Manager. “We gotta regroup and play tomorrow. We have a tough Jupiter team tomorrow and we gotta try to finish off the tournament playing better. Whether we win or lose, we have to start playing better to get ready for when district games start.”

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