Frederick Hustlers (13U)

The 11U Frederick Hustlers completed an amazing season by winning the HCYP Summer Clash Championship this past weekend in Howard County. The action began Friday night when the Hustlers squared off with the WHC Renegades from the MABA Division 1 league. This was a tight contest as WHC scored one in the first before the Hustlers answered with two of their own.  The Hustlers enjoyed a seemingly comfortable 4-1 lead going into the 4th before WHC scored three to tie it. The game was knotted at 4, until Gavin Hughes launched a 2-out solo home run to left field, giving the Hustlers a 5-4 lead.  As has been the case for much of the season, the Hustler's pitching closed the door and the Hustlers escaped by a score of 5-4. Aiden Dubetsky threw three innings and allowed no earned runs.  Logan Malachowski labored a tad in the 4th before lefty Aidan Simmons tossed two shutout innings to end any hope the Renegades had of coming back. Camren Baker and Gavin Hughes each had two hits to lead the Hustlers. Game 2 on Saturday had the Hustlers facing the Arlington Storm. The Hustlers jumped out to an 8-1 lead after three innings, only to see it evaporate, as the Storm scored three runs in the fourth, and three more in the 5th.  Most of the runs were courtesy of sloppy defense . Jaxson Wood came to the rescue and launched a  bases-loaded double in the 5th that cleared the bases and gave the Hustlers an 11-7 lead .  To the Storm's credit, they would not go away and battled back, scoring three runs. The Storm had runners at 1st and 3rd, with one out, when Aidan Simmons came in to pitch. Simmons induced a ground ball to 3rd basemen Ryan Maxey who threw home to gun down the runner trying to advance. The crafty Simmons then struck out the next batter, giving the Hustlers an 11-10 win. Ryan Maxey threw two innings of baseball, while Jaxson Wood threw in the 3rd.  Ryan Jones struggled over 2 & 1/3 innings before Simmons came on and finished the game. Jaxson Wood had three hits to lead the Hustlers, while Camren Baker and Logan Malachowski each had 2 hits. Friday and Saturday’s play put the Hustlers into Sunday as the 2 seed out of 12 teams. The Hustlers got paired up against a very formidable 10U team from HCYP, that had just beaten Catonsville, and already mercy ruled the Arlington Storm a day earlier. The Hustlers took care of business in the 1st, scoring a season high 11 runs in the first, and adding 5 more in the second, to take the game by the mercy rule and a score of 16-1. Ryan Jones, Carlos Caraballo, Ryan Maxey, and Killian Stair each had 2 hits in the game. Aiden Dubetsky, Andrew Raymond, and Jaxson Wood each doubled. Andrew Raymond threw 2 innings, allowing no earned runs, and Camren Baker pitched a scoreless 3rd for the Hustlers. The win put the Hustlers in the semi-finals versus the Arlington Storm, who won earlier Sunday morning versus the WHC Renegades. The Home team Hustlers scored in every inning to take the semi-final game by a score of 11-1, advancing to the championship game. Camren Baker had 3 hits, while Carlos Caraballo and Ryan Maxey each had 2 hits. Andrew Raymond pitched 3 innings of 1 run baseball, while Caraballo pitched a scoreless 4th. The championship game featured the Hustlers and the Shutdown Orioles. The Orioles just came from behind to beat the HCYP Raiders from the CRAB league on a walk-off hit. The Hustlers continued to play good baseball, scoring 3 in the 1st, 6 in the 3rd, and 4 more in the 4th, to take this championship game via the mercy rule by a score of 13-3. Aiden Dubetsky pitched all 4 innings, allowing 1 earned run. Dubetsky, Ryan Jones, Ryan Maxey, Jaxson Wood, and Killian Stair each had 2 hits in the game. Carlos Caraballo tripled. Leading hitters for the weekend: Jaxson Wood(.700), Camren Baker(.615), Carlos Caraballo(.583), Ryan Maxey(.583), Aiden Dubetsky(.455), Gavin Huges(.455), Logan Malachowski(.455), Andrew Raymond(.444), Killian Stair(.444), Ryan Jones(.357). The 11U Hustlers completed a very successful 11U season, with 48 wins, 11 losses, and 1 tie. There were 5 tournament championships, and 2 Silver Bracket championships during the season.