AAABA 2021 Philadelphia blanks Zanesville in seven innings to secure top spot in Pool B
Aug. 4—ST. MICHAEL — Jay Bonifant
"Just for my guys to go out and have fun. That's the main thing I told them to have fun and play baseball. What happens happens. Just give me 110% like we have all year and do the best you can do, have fun."
"I'm hoping a lot of them will be back that are age-eligible to come back. That's why we're kind of young, bring them up here to get the experience wanting them to see what it's like to play here in Johnstown in the AAABA Tournament. It's a very good tournament. I was part of it back in the 1990s. This is my first time back since then. It's always been an experience up here."
Olenski "Every time we step on the field, we want to win a game. Obviously, that was a core principle coming out to win the game. We're swinging the bats well right now. We're throwing strikes. Our defense all week has been spectacular so you can't ask for anything better than that. We're peaking at the right point right now. Everything is looking good. The environment we were talking about was loose, high-energy, top-effort. Can't ask for anything other than that."
"We're just riding a momentum train right now. I think our GM was saying there hasn't been a team in 76 years that has given up zero runs in pool play. We were playing for something, for sure. Whatever it was, we were trying to find something to put a chip on our shoulder. At the end of the day, these guys know this is one step. We came here with one team goal to win a championship. That's the sole focus."
Petrich "We just kept trying to keep the bats going. Our pitching has been amazing this week. We were just trying to keep the momentum and stay excited to play baseball."
"Since our pitchers are doing so well, we're just trying to limit as many hits as possible and try to keep the ball in front of us. It's been working."
"All of us are seeing the ball pretty well. Everyone is a part of the hitting. We'll just keep trying to get our pitchers some runs so they can pitch ahead."
"We're feeling great right now. Everyone is just doing their jobs and trying to keep it going."
The Philadelphia Bandits finished Pool B play with a resounding 22-0 victory over Zanesville shortened to seven innings on Wednesday because of the 10-run rule at Forest Hills High School.
Philadelphia (3-0) outscored its first three opponents 48-0 and will meet Martella's Pharmacy, an 8-6 winner over Columbus, in a quarterfinal on Thursday.
Owen Petrich went 4-for-6 with three doubles, four runs scored and four RBIs. Phil Stahl replaced an injured Eric Marasheski and finished 4-for-5 with a triple, two doubles, two runs and three RBIs. Anthony Bruno added three hits and two RBIs. Ten different players ended up with hits, which included seven with two or more knocks and six with two or more RBIs.
Ben Spadea and Nick D'Apolito combined on a one-hit shutout.
Philadelphia scored three runs each in the first three innings and added nine in the fourth.
Ryan Rusnak singled in the second inning for Zaneville's lone hit. The Junior Pioneers finished 0-3.
