The 2010 NECBL All-Star Game took place this year at Cardines Field in Newport Rhode Island which serves as the home of the Newport Gulls franchise. The NECBL features players from power conference teams like Vanderbilt and Georgia while also having players from lesser known schools like Nova Southeastern and UMass-Lowell.
The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the second inning when the Eastern Division All-Stars would get to St. John’s pitcher Matt Carasiti for three runs. Northeastern’s Matt Miller and Cypress Junior College’s Matt Avery got back to back RBI singles to make it 2-0. The lead expanded to 3-0 when Vanderbilt’s Anthony Gomez grounded out to the pitcher and Matt Miller scored from third to make it 3-0. Carasiti was able to get out of the inning by striking out Virginia Tech’s Matt Blow with the bases loaded to keep it 3-0.
The game remained 3-0 until the sixth inning when Columbia’s Jason Banos with a runner on first hit a ball over the right field screen to expand the Eastern Division’s lead to 5-0. The Eastern Division added another run in the bottom of the seventh on a Kevin Quaranto (Siena) single through the right side that brought home Brett Botsford (LeMoyne) to put the Eastern Division up 6-0.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Eastern Division hit even though they had already clinched the win as the West brought in Sean Albury from Nova Southeastern. He struggled with his control and didn’t miss many bats as he gave up four runs (2 earned) on three hits and walking two batters to give the Eastern Division the 10-0 victory.
Since there was so many pitchers in the game and substitutions, I did not recognize until I got home that the Western Division only managed one hit in the game. It was by Michael Williams (Kentucky) in the sixth inning off of Nolan Corr (Wheaton College).
The most impressive pitcher in the game for me was Seth Simmons from East Carolina as he showed a fastball in the 90’s with a devastating breaking ball that should fit in well with the ECU pitching staff for the 2011 season. Jason Banos was named the MVP of the game with his homer over the right field fence being his only hit in the game.
St. John’s Jeremy Baltz who was a consensus Freshman All-American went 0-3 but has the body type to develop into a high selection in the 2012 draft.
