The Midnight Suns 12U baseball team didn’t back down to anyone at the Cooperstown Dreams Park tournament.
After winning four of their first seven games — including a walk-off 10-9 win— the Suns lost to Georgia Sandlot 5-1 on Wednesday, which eliminated them from single-elimination bracket play.
“Our guys were in it all the way up until the end,” Midnight Suns manager Jeremy Ludeman said. “We ended up dropping it 5-1, but it wasn’t until late in the game they had picked up a few more insurance runs to put the game a little bit out of reach. But we had multiple scoring opportunities. Our guys battled but we just came up short with leaving runners on base.”
The Suns went 3-3 during round robin play, winning one of two games on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, respectively.
Eli Crupi hit a walk-off single in the sixth inning to clinch a 10-9 win over the Summit City Sluggers (Indiana) in the first game on Wednesday. Thomas Baxter, Kaleb Campbell and Kaeden Quinto each scored two runs in the win.
They then went straight into their next game against Georgia Sandlot.
Team Hoyle (Florida), South Farmington Blues (Michigan) and ECB Yankees (Georgia) were responsible for the Alaska team’s other losses.
“Without playing lots of games in those elements, it was encouraging to see the quality of ball that they were able to bring,” Ludeman said. “They’re on the road, it’s a big stage for them to perform on and for them to play the way they did was very encouraging to all the coaches that have put so much effort into that group of young men.”
Antone Araujo and Baxter both had three home runs and led the team in hitting during the tournament.
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nainsworth@juneauempire.com. Follow Empire Sports on Twitter at @akempiresports.
Cooperstown Dreams Park tournament orientation with all 104 teams. (Courtesy Photo | Jeremy Ludeman)
