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

PHOENIX — Four straight days of baseball is a daunting task that would surely challenge the depths of any high school baseball pitching staff, especially those playing at such a high level of competition. Saturday night’s Boras Baseball Classic of Arizona championship game was no different, as Hamilton fell to Reno, 5-3, in a battle of the bullpens that saw neither team’s starting pitcher able to make it through more than three-and-a-third innings of work.

Reno starting pitcher Jake Oscarson faced just three batters and failed to record an out before head coach Pete Savage made the quick decision to turn to his bullpen. The nightmarish first inning was kick-started by a leadoff home run off the bat of Hamilton’s Gavin Turley, followed by back-to-back line drives singles by Roch Cholowsky and Josh Tiedemann.

Though the score was just 1-0 at the time, Savage brought in sophomore left-handed pitcher Zackary Silverman, who earned himself the Wilson Most Outstanding Defensive Performance Award with his masterful performance in relief. After inheriting runners on first and second with nobody out, Silverman managed to escape the first inning unscathed thanks to a pair of strikeouts and a runner caught stealing.

Silvermann went on to retire the first 11 Hamilton batters he faced – something that no other pitcher has been able to do this entire season. He picked up the win after pitching six-plus innings in relief, allowing just two runs on three hits and striking out seven. 

Reno’s biggest offensive inning came in the second, scoring four runs on five hits. Mike Cruz led off the inning with a single that was immediately followed by a double from Eric Nachtsheim and RBI singles from Mason Rowe, Kaden Schuck, and Mason Oliphant. 

Reno added an insurance run in the fourth after Schuck reached base on a beautifully placed bunt down the third base line and pinch-runner Colton Sellers was brought home two at-bats later on the Huskies second successful safety squeeze of the night. Reno extended its lead to 5-1.

Cruz and Schuck were the only two Reno hitters to record multiple hits in Saturday’s championship effort, earning themselves a share of the Boras Classic Special Recognition Award. 

“The small ball and off-speed pitching exposed us a little bit,” Hamilton head coach Mike Woods said. “It's something that we hadn’t seen yet this year; but, now that we have, hopefully we can adapt and learn from it because that's really what this is all about. Putting ourselves in different situations to better prepare us for the greater goal, which is winning our region and winning our state championship.”

Despite facing its largest deficit of the season, Hamilton showed a lot of fight in the later stages of this game. Junior right-handed pitcher Will Shelor kept the Huskies in this one, allowing just one hit and striking out three in two-and-two-thirds innings of relief. Carson Johnson contributed with a scoreless 1-2-3 inning in the seventh as well. 

After three hitless innings on offense, Hamilton broke through with a fifth inning home run off the bat of Prince DeBoskie that cut the deficit to 5-2. The Huskies continued to show signs of life  in the bottom of the sixth, with a leadoff walk and a double from Turley and Cholowsky, respectively, that put two runners in scoring position with nobody out. 

Hamilton looked to have been in a good spot to spark a late inning comeback, but after a 3-0 popout from Josh Tiedemann and a scorching line drive off the bat of Ryan Kucherak, it seemed all of the momentum had disappeared within an instant. Reno head coach Pete Savage went to his bullpen once again, bringing in Mason Daforno – who went three-up, three-down in the seventh to secure the victory.

After the game, Hamilton’s Gavin Turley was awarded the DeMarini Offensive Most Valuable Player Award. Turley finished the four-day tournament with a .367 batting average, three home runs, six RBI, and four runs scored.

Turley was one of four Husky players to show off the longball in this week’s tournament, including one from DeBoskie and two from Tiedemann and Kole Klecker. Tiedemann finished the tournament with a .545 batting average, four RBI, and five runs scored. Tiedemann’s monster performance was followed closely behind by DeBoskie, who finished with a .417 batting average, three RBI, and three runs scored.

If there is one silver lining to be taken out of Hamilton’s Saturday night performance, it is that a mid-March tournament loss certainly does not define a team or its potential for success in the days or weeks immediately following. 

“Reno played a good game and we tip our cap to them,” Woods said. “They did a great job and executed very well but it’s not the end of the world for us. We lost the championship game in 2019 and went on to win a state championship a month or so later. This is just a little bump in the road that we'll overcome and will hopefully make us better off in the long run.”

Hamilton (6-0) will now have one day to reset before returning to conference action and heading to Glendale to take on Mountain Ridge (3-0) for a 3:45 first pitch on Monday afternoon. 

“We’ve just got to turn the page, forget about this one, and move forward,” Woods said. “These kids know how to respond and they’ll come ready to play on Monday.”