The Hollister Little Hitmen 8U traveling baseball team,
representing Hollister Baseball Academy, reached the championship
game of the Peter J. Aldrete Labor Day Classic.
Marina – The Hollister Little Hitmen 8U traveling baseball team, representing Hollister Baseball Academy, reached the championship game of the Peter J. Aldrete Labor Day Classic.
The Hitmen, comprised of Hollister Little Leaguers from the Minor AA and Farm A levels, lost 7-6 to Hillsborough in Monday’s final.
The team led 2-0 after Cody Freitas hit a solo home run over the right center field fence in the second inning.
Six consecutive hits led to four runs in the top of the third as the team raced to a 6-0 lead behind starting pitcher Andrew Breen, who struck out 10 batters in eight innings in the tourney.
Hillsborough answered with five runs in the bottom of the inning to pull within one. In the bottom of the fifth, they added two more runs to go ahead 7-6.
In the top of the sixth, Freitas and Greg Steinbeck hit singles to start the inning, but neither was able to score.
Every player contributed for the Hitmen in the tourney. Tony Diaz scored six runs and knocked in three from the leadoff spot. He had 13 strikeouts in eight innings of pitching. Dylan Yamasaki batted .333 with five RBIs, and Nathan Alvarez batted .455, scored three runs, had three RBI and pitched seven innings.
Ben Cobb led the team with a .615 average and had three RBIs. Breen scored twice and knocked in three runs; Daniel Gonzales batted .308 and scored four times; Tony Amaral had two runs and struck out five in two innings of pitching; Freitas had four RBI and scored twice; Mavrick Enz had three RBIs and scored two times and Steinbeck batted .375.
The team had also reached the championship game of an 8U tournament in Fresno in July.
Special to the Free Lance
