The Arlington Travel Baseball 14-under Arsenal team bested 20 squads from six states/provinces to win the Atlantic Coast Baseball Open in Pittsburgh over Memorial Day weekend.
The Arsenal won two games and tied another during the preliminary round. The team played to a 4-4 stalemate versus the Hardcore Elite Stadtfeld from Pittsburgh, then defeated Beaver Valley Gray from Beaver Falls, Pa., 1-0, and the East Side Aces from Toronto, 8-0.
Booker Lawson, who threw a complete game, and George Cocker were the winning pitchers in the pool-play shutouts. Christopher Capannola had a key hit and scored the lone run in the game against Beaver Valley.
Danny Sullivan had three hits, including two doubles, against the East Side Aces. Tommy Keane, Brady Doster, Ethan Wassel and Capannola were responsible for driving in the team’s eight runs.
The team’s pool-play performance earned the Arsenal the No. 2 seed in the playoff round.
In a back-and-forth semifinal, Arlington prevailed 8-7 in a rematch with Beaver Valley. Lawson drove in Liam Juza and Talon Duce for the go-ahead runs. Before Arlington took the lead, Sam Graf entered the game to pitch with the bases loaded and one out. He held Beaver Valley in check and then pitched a scoreless final inning for the win.
In the finals, the Arsenal had another rematch, this time against Hardcore Elite Stadtfeld.
Trailing 1-0 entering the bottom of the fourth inning, the Arsenal scored three runs, added three in the fifth and five in the sixth to put the game away, winning 11-1.
Dylan Stone went 3 for 4 with three runs and three RBI, Keane had two hits and three RBIs, while Doster and Graf also contributed multiple hits.
Juza started and pitched the first three innings with Graf and Cocker both having scoreless relief appearances to close the game. Michael Gurgo contributed in the championship.