Frederick Hustlers (13U)

Mother Nature put a quick end to the Frederick Hustlers 2018 summer season on Sunday in Lancaster, PA. Playing in their final event of the summer schedule, the Hustlers were well-positioned for a run at another Elite Baseball tournament championship. The Hustlers defeated MSI National (Garnet Valley, PA) 11-3 and the Tri State Arsenal (Mt. Laurel, NJ) 10-1 on Saturday and entered Sunday’s championship play as the #2 seed. Adam Dellamura got the ball and shutdown the OTP Railsplitters in the top of the first in the quarter final action. The Hustlers scored twice in the bottom half to take a 2-0 lead thanks to a standup triple to right-center by Matt Kulikowski. That’s when Mother Nature decided to take her turn. After a 30-minute downpour, officials had no choice but to cancel the event. “The guys did a great job on Saturday. We were able to save our top arms for Sunday so we were feeling pretty good about our chances. The season effectively ended the way it started….more rain,” noted Coach Main.

After quickly falling behind 3-0 on Saturday morning to MSI, the Hustlers answered with seven runs of their own. “That’s just a sign of maturity with this group. There was a day when they would have hung their heads and panicked,” said Main. Gabe Torres entered in the second and pitched shutout baseball. Ryan Bennett got the final out with the bases loaded in the fifth in a game shortened by the run-rule. The Hustlers recorded seven hits. Tyler Prather led the way with two hits and two RBIs, and Kulikowski doubled and Torres tripled.

The Hustlers got another nice pitching performance from Dustin Isanogle in game two against the Tri-State Arsenal. Isanogle tossed four innings of one-hit baseball with four strikeouts. The Hustlers had ten hits – three by Torres and two by Dellamura. Matt Cunningham had a three-run triple which one hopped the fence in left at Millersville University. “Torres made big strides this season. He was pretty raw when we got him but he could be a middle of the order guy if he keeps working,” said Main.

“This team is getting better and better but we need to add some pieces in order to accomplish what we want to do at places like Perfect Game in Georgia,” noted Main. “Hopefully kids see this and want to be a part of it.”

Tryouts are this weekend (July 21-22) and August 11-12 at 3:00pm at Governor Thomas Johnson High School. Coach Main can be reached at 301-401-9034 or wayne.main4@gmail.com.