Matthew Legere is a Master’s Student at ASU Cronkite School of Journalism assigned to cover Hamilton High School for AZPreps365.com

TEMPE — With no shortage of future collegiate talent competing in the sixth annual Boras Baseball Classic of Arizona, Hamilton won its opening round matchup of the tournament, defeating Legend High School (Parker, Colo.) 6-3 at Corona del Sol on Wednesday afternoon. 

The Titans jumped out to an early lead after Air Force commit Braden Doumer laced a first inning RBI double into the right-center gap. The Huskies, though, showed great resilience by scoring the next six runs of the contest, including a first inning game-tying run that came without a hit. 

The Huskies' first run of the day was credited to Josh Tiedemann, who reached first base after being hit by a pitch. Tiedemann advanced into scoring position with a delayed steal of second and eventually took third after a ball four pitch to Ryan Kucherak slipped by the Legend catcher and reached the backstop.

Kucherak, with a heads up baserunning play, sprinted out of the box, taking a hard turn around first base and drawing the attention of the entire Titan defense. Intentional or not, Kucherak’s decision led to an all-but-conventional 2-4-3-6 rundown that allowed Tiedemann to touch home before the final out was recorded, tying the game at one run apiece. 

Two innings later Tiedemann knocked in the go-ahead run with an RBI double that was shot into the left-center field power alley. That brought home Roch Cholowsky, who scored all the way from first base after drawing a two-out walk. 

The Huskies continued to add on with a four-run fourth inning that was fueled by an RBI single off the bat of Prince DeBoskie and a three-run home run from Gavin Turley. 

There were scouts galore at the opening day of the Boras Baseball Classic. Turley quickly established himself as a cannot-miss at-bat for all in attendance. Seemingly each time his name was announced, fans and scouts alike came rushing to the fence with camera phones in hand ready to capture the next great moment. Turley’s home run marked his fifth straight game with a bomb and sixth overall, a moment producing meme-worthy reactions à la Shaq at the 2000 NBA dunk contest.

“It's been fun to watch,” head coach Mike Woods said. “Six bombs in five games and there's really no reason to believe that he can't keep doing it — he's that good. We'll continue to ride this out as long as it lasts but I'm mostly just happy for him, you know what I mean? He has put in a lot of work in order to get to where he is at right now.”

Turley’s home run gave the Huskies a 6-1 lead, but the Titans would fight their way back with four hits of their own in the top of the sixth. Kennedy, who finished the day 3-for-4, led off the inning with an opposite-field home run and Kai Wagner followed suit with an RBI single that plated Conor Boyd, cutting the Huskies lead to 6-3. 

Then, with two outs and runners on the corners, Cameron Cartwright smoked a line drive up the middle that appeared destined for center field. Hamilton shortstop Roch Cholowsky made a head-first diving catch to his glove side that ended the inning, limited the damage, and may have been the deciding factor in Wednesday’s victory. 

“Even if I'm not having the best day at the plate, I'm just trying to be a leader and keep everyone's hopes up,” Cholowsky said. “As soon as I saw the ball off the bat, I knew I had to leave my feet – there’s no way I was letting that one get through. I’d do anything to help pick up my pitchers.”

Logan Saloman picked up the win for the Huskies, going five-and-a-third innings, allowing seven hits, three runs, and picking up another eigght K’s to add to his season total. Arizona commit Will Shelor came out of the pen to shut the door with a one and two-thirds inning save. 

Hamilton now advances to face Horizon for a 3 p.m. first pitch at Arcadia High School in Thursday’s round two of the winner bracket.