The Lower Bucks Minutemen Navy stormed out to a 7–0 lead through two innings. Then came a seventh-inning scare. But in the end, they held off a furious rally by Kings Baseball 13U to secure a 9–8 win and the Philly Select Baseball League 13U championship Monday night.
“We were fortunate,” Minutemen head coach Matt Wolski said.
“In the playoffs, if you get a chance to pile on runs, you have to take it. Because good teams don’t stop coming. They [Kings] are here for a reason.”
The Minutemen wasted no time jumping on the scoreboard. They plated five runs in the first, taking advantage of a pair of errors. Robbie Ellis drove in the game’s first run with a sacrifice fly, then Perry Holden singled home another after a second run crossed on a miscue. Aaron Huffman followed with a sacrifice bunt, and Tyler Wexler capped the outburst with an RBI single, giving Lower Bucks a 5–0 lead.
After the Kings went down in order in the second, the Minutemen tacked on two more in the home half on RBI singles from Gavin Riley and Ellis, stretching the lead to 7–0.
But Kings Baseball, based out of Malvern, didn’t go quietly. Everett Miksit put them on the board in the fourth with a sharp RBI single to left, then another run came across on an error to make it 7–2. In the fifth, Cole McKernan’s sacrifice fly trimmed the deficit to four.
The Minutemen got one back in the bottom half of the inning when Ellis dropped down a bunt for his second sac hit of the night — this one driving in his third run — to extend the lead to 8–3. Both teams traded single runs in the sixth, setting up a tense seventh with Lower Bucks leading 9–4.
That’s when the Kings made things interesting.
They sent eight men to the plate and pushed across four runs, aided by a wild pitch, a passed ball, and a two-run single by Liam O’Brien. With the tying run on second, Wyatt Bressler buckled down and struck out the final batter of the game to preserve the one-run win.
“We’ve played a lot of those kids growing up, so it’s not new that this was a one-run game and there’s a runner on base at the end,” Wolski said.
Despite the loss, the Kings outhit the Minutemen. McKernan, Miksit, and Jason Jandrisitz each had two hits to lead the offense.
Ellis earned MVP honors, finishing with a single, three RBIs, and standout play behind the plate.
“My plan was to go up there and try to crush a few balls and kill it behind the plate,” Ellis said, gripping his MVP trophy.
“I try to steal as many strikes as I can when I’m behind the plate to try and keep my pitcher’s pitch count low.”
The Minutemen capped off a stellar season in the National League West division, winning three straight games in the playoff bracket to claim the title. Wolski, in his first season coaching in the Philly Select League and seventh with this particular group, believes the league’s structure prepares players for the future.
“I love it because baseball is not a weekend tournament with six games,” he said. “Baseball is a league. It’s a season. You have to map out pitching. Kids can’t play five games in two days. If big leaguers don’t do it, nobody should be doing it. This is what we are preparing them for — high school and college ball. Even in Omaha, they don’t play five games in two days.”
What made this group special, Wolski said, had little to do with box scores.
“They just play for each other,” he said. “Saturday night they were all in the pool together. They have their own wiffle ball league. They aren’t like your normal travel team. They all live and hang out together.”
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