Metropolitan Baseball Classic: Day 3 Notebook

By Nathan Rode
National Supervisor

HEMPSTEAD, NY—Pool play of the 2015 Metropolitan Baseball Classic was completed Saturday with all eight teams playing one game at Hofstra. The final is set for Sunday and there will be new champion as Chet Lemon’s Juice and the Northeast Mets both secured their spots. With both teams sporting 2-0 records, the Juice and Team Elite squared off in the second game of the day in hopes of advancing. The Juice took down the two-time defending champs with a wild 4-0 win. OF Drenis Ozuna (Olympia HS, FL) had an infield single and two runs scored and RHP Ryan Masterson (Oviedo HS, FL) stifled the Team Elite hitters across the final 2.2 innings, striking out four.

The Northeast Mets needed a tie or win to advance and held a 4-1 lead going into the seventh against FTB Tucci. RHP Austin Bodrato (St. Joseph’s Regional HS, NJ) got a strikeout before allowing a hit batter and single. He struck IF Francisco Thomas (Osceola HS, FL) out looking, which brought SS Bo Bichette (Lakewood HS, FL) up. A battle ensued and Bichette won out, hitting a long fly ball off the right field wall for a triple to make it 4-3. He then scored the tying run when IF Austin Shenton (Bellingham HS, WA) tapped an infield single over Bodrato’s head. A flyout ended the game and allowed the Northeast to advance anyway.

Here are some highlights from Saturday’s games…