BPE Titans Take Tournament Championship
The Titans combine great pitching, nearly perfect defense, and plentiful hitting to go 5-1 on the weekend and claim the BCCC title for the second time in three years.
BPE Titans 9 – Midland Park Panthers 0
The Titans jumped out to a quick 3-0 in the first with a double by short stop Dwayne Marshall,
a walk to Billy Kerwien, a 2 run double off of the bat of Ryan Toohers, and a sac fly from Chase Champi. That would be all the runs that Roger Dolan would need as he threw 5 innings of no-hit ball as the Titans cruised to a 9-0 win. First baseman Ryan Toohers would finish the game 3 doubles.
BPE Titans 9 – NJ Gamers 16u White 1
Charlie Ruegger didn’t wait very long to put his stamp on game 2 as he struck out the side on 9 pitches in the first. Charlie had all of the runs he would need after the second inning when right fielder Kyle Kanaley laced a 2 out, 2 strike double that scored 2. Dwayne Marshall followed that up with a stand up triple and the Titans led 4-0 after 2. Dwayne would finish the game with 2 doubles and triple, scoring 3 runs. Charlie would yield a run on a broken bat blooper but the titans went on to win 9-1.
Gotham Giants 2 – BPE Titans 0
In the third game of the day, the titans dropped their first game of the season to the Giants. The bats came out sluggish and just couldn’t get anything going against the Giants pitching staff as the lead off guy failed to reach base in every inning. Pete Nolet was untouchable as he tossed 4 innings no hit baseball in the loss.
Despite the loss the Titans won the pool with an impressive 18 runs for and only 3 runs against. The Titans moved into the playoffs of the 15u/16u American division with the best run differential in the tournament.
Quarterfinals
BPE Titans 4 – North Jersey Cardinal Grey 0
Sophomore Ryan Toohers had little trouble with the Cardinals lineup as he threw a complete game shutout only giving up 2 hits and 1 walk while striking out 11. Ryan also paced the offense going 2-3 with a double in the third. Justin Miller got the scoring started when he ripped the first pitch of his at-bat down the first base line scoring Billy Kerwien in the bottom of the second. The scoring would continue in the 3rd with Ryan Toohers coming around to score on a Kerwien double. Again, the Titans offense provided the starting pitcher with more runs that they would need as the Titans coasted to the 4-0 win.
Semifinals
BPE Titans 9 – Chargers Baseball Club 8
The Titans found themselves down 7-1 entering the bottom of the third inning when Marshall, Bott, Kerwien, Justin Miller, Kanaley, Cam Miller, and Champi would all eventually come in to score on a mix of walks and hits with the big blow being a 2 run single by Chase scoring Justin Miller and Kyle Kanaley. The winning run would cross the plate in the 4th which was started by possibly the best struck ball of the day off of the bat of Billy Kerwien. Billy coasted into second base with a stand up double and would score on a single by the very next batter, Jami Wendel. Billy Kerwien was also superb in relief throwing 6 plus innings while picking up the win.
The come from behind win would mean that the Titans would be playing in the finals and for the second consecutive day, the team would be playing a third game.
Finals
BPE Titans 7 – NJ Bandits 4
The Titans coaching staff decided to give the ball to Dwayne Marshall in the finals and Dwayne did not disappoint. Dwayne breezed through the first 3 innings, striking out the first 7 batters he faced while only yielding 1 hit. The Titans grabbed the lead in the bottom of the first when Justin Miller walked, was moved to second by a Marshall ground out, and scored on a line drive double by Brandon Bott. Catcher Jami Wendel led off the bottom of the second with a rocket over the left fielders head that went for a double. He would advance to third on a single by center fielder Charlie Ruegger and score on a balk by the Bandits starting pitcher. The Titans didn’t waste any time in the third by loading the bases with no outs on 2 walks and a single by Marshall. Miller would come in to score on a Wendel single and Marshall would score on an error by the second baseman running the score up to 4-0.
Dwayne worked 5 scoreless innings before running into some trouble in the 6th. Dwayne’s lone mistake of the day went over the right center fence scoring a lead off walk and single, cutting the Titans lead to 4-3. Justin Miller was next on the hill. Justin walked one and gave up a hit before picking up a huge strike out and turning the ball over to Ruegger. Charlie worked quickly striking out one and getting a ground out to end the threat.
Third baseman Austin Miles got the bottom of the sixth started by forcing an error on the second baseman and would eventually score on a passed ball but the big blow was a 2 RBI triple that went all the way to the fence in right-center by second baseman Billy Kerwien. Charlie allowed a run in the top of the 7th but got a game ending pop up that Kerwien hauled in for the final out of the tournament.
The Titans finished the tournament with 19 extra base hits (17 doubles). Dwayne Marshall led the team with 8 runs scored and Jami Wendel was tops in RBI’S with 4. Tournament MVP Billy Kerwien was 9/17 (.526) with 4 extra base hits, 5 runs scored, and 3 RBI’s. The pitching staff K’d 46 guys on the weekend, led by Tooher’s 11.
