Go BCC Blue Jays!: Blue Jays Compete on Opening Day

The Blue Jays impressed throughout the opening weekend of the BCC Baseball season.

After a great practice on Saturday, they showed up ready to play and compete with a very strong opponent on Sunday at Avenel Park.

They played with enthusiasm, focus, and terrific effort.

Fans recognized that this game was a huge challenge.

Unfortunately, the Nationals weren't just big. They were also highly skilled and well coached. The final score was Nationals 16, Blue Jays 9.

April 7 Game Report

Milen Hukmani posted a perfect 3-for-3 batting line that included three singles and two RBI. Locked in and focused from the beginning of each plate appearance, Milen was in the middle of every Blue Jays rally.

Milen showed leadership by being first to man the catcher position. Above, he receives a brief tutorial prior to having an absolute BLAST behind the dish. Smiling broadly, Milen told the coach that he would like to be the catcher again. That's awesome!

Sebastian Bloomberg was the offensive star of the game for the Blue Jays. Combining contact, power, and speed, he put up a 3-for-3 performance that was even better than it appears at first glance. All of Sebastian's hits were doubles! With two RBI and two runs scored, Sebastian was involved in almost half of his team's offensive output.

Sebastian hustled to the ball consistently at the pitcher's helper, shortstop, and 3rd base positions, making solid stops on numerous well hit balls.

Noah Solovey put the ball in play in each of his three trips to the plate. That's HUGE at this level - strikeouts make things easy for the opposing team. He ended up with a 1-for-3 batting line and an RBI against a good fielding team.

Noah learned a lot in his first machine-pitch game. Above, he stands ready at 3rd base. The Nationals seemed to have a penchant for blasting grounders to the hot corner and the 5.5 hole. Noah held up well. He also took his first turn at catcher in the top of the sixth.

Josh Porter was a revelation in the 13th spot in the order. Making contact in each at-bat, Josh posted a 2-for-3 day with a 100 percent contact rate. His two singles and fleet feet allowed him to notch two runs scored on the day.

In the photo above, Josh makes one of the better defensive plays of the day. Playing at 2nd base in the top of the second, he covered the bag on a grounder that was hit to the shortstop. Josh then rotated his body to catch a throw that was slightly off line, notching a key put-out that stifled the opposition's momentum.

A late addition to the team, Reto Lamparter showed up ready to play after just two practices. Making contact in each plate appearance, Reto produced a 2-for-3 day that resulted in an RBI and a run scored.

Reto didn't take long to demonstrate that he can play multiple positions well. In Sunday's game, he took turns at shortstop, pitcher's helper, 2nd base, and in the outfield. Playing well at each spot, Reto showed that he can be relied upon as a utility man.

Batting in the eighth spot in the order, Niara Gupta kept the line moving with clean base hits in the fourth and sixth innings.

Niara made her debut behind the dish in the top of the third inning. She seemed to enjoy the experience! We were so impressed with her work at pitcher's helper in practice that we put here there for two innings in the game. Unfortunately, when the Nationals hit balls up the middle, they were hot shots that were unplayable.

Dominic Delgado crushed a two-run double in the bottom of the fifth and added a single in the first. Dominic's 2-for-3 performance included a 100 percent contact rate, two RBI and a run scored.

Playing at shortstop, Dominic made a great catch on a towering fly ball in the top of the third inning.

Seamus Bain learned that choking up on the bat just a little bit can pay major dividends. Moving his hands up in the bottom of the sixth, Seamus cranked a scorching RBI single up the middle!

Seamus provided the defensive highlight of the game with his catch of a high fly ball at 2nd base in the top of the fifth inning. That was an incredible effort that earned applause even from the opposing coaches!

Jacob Carle produced a 100 percent contact rate at the plate. This should be the goal of every Blue Jay at every game - make the opponents earn their outs! Jacob delivered a base hit and came all the way around to score in the bottom of the third.

Jacob played three innings at 1st base. He'll probably play quite a bit at that position this year.

Henry Goldstein capped a rally in the bottom of the fourth inning. Batting with two runners on base, he beat out an infield single and collected an RBI.

Henry was kept busy at 2nd base in the bottom of the fourth. We noticed that he did a great job covering the bag when the ball was hit to the left side.

Adam Farber enjoyed a productive 2-for-3 day at the plate. Batting in the middle of the Blue Jays' lineup, he knocked a base hit up the middle in the fourth, sliced a knock to right field in the sixth, and went on to score in both instances.

Adam experienced the catcher position for the first time in the bottom of the second. He also put in a strong effort at 2nd base in the third and the sixth.

Brody Gottfried put the ball in play in his first trip to the plate in the bottom of the third. Had the Nationals' pitcher's helper not treated us to an excellent demonstration of how to charge the ball, Brody would've had his first machine-pitch base hit.

Brody made a nice stop on a well hit grounder at pitcher's helper in the top of the third inning. He also took a strong turn at catcher in the fifth.

Clark Roggie posted a 100 percent contact rate that led mainly to frustration that is typical for left-handed hitters at this level. For righties, pulling a ground ball to the left side usually results in a hit; for lefties, pulling a ball to the right often results in an out because the defensive play is geometrically easier. Clark hit the ball hard three times and ended up 1-for-3. Coach will work with him on hitting to the opposite field.

Clark impressed with his play in left field, cutting off two hot smashes that would've gone for triples had he not stopped them and limited the opponents to singles. Clark also notched an infield assist from the shortstop position, charging a slow grounder and throwing to 2nd base for a force out in the second inning.

After six hard fought inning, the Blue Jays congratulated the Nationals, a very strong opponent. Scoring nine runs against these guys was no small accomplishment!

Lift Off

Coach Eric Delgado led pregame stretching and warm-up, coached and umpired at 1st base, helped fielders find their positions, and assisted with myriad other tasks.

Brett Goldstein kept a solid scorebook despite receiving confusing directions from the head coach. We also want to thank Lance Bloomberg for coaching and umpiring at 3rd base.

We didn't get a photo of Shivani Gupta, but we should mention that she served as catcher suiter-upper, a job only marginally more attractive than that of the ball turret gunner.

Great Start

The coaches were proud of the way the Blue Jays competed with a very strong opponent in their first machine-pitch game. They might not see another team that has so much firepower and skill.

The Blue Jays made plays in the field and batted to a contact rate of 79 percent - more than respectable early in the machine-pitch experience.

The machine-pitch game is more fast-paced than any other version of baseball. Things will actually slow down quite a bit when we move up to kid-pitch in a couple of years.