Campisi strikes out the side for the win! Elite 2-1 over Yeti. pic.twitter.com/OHEod8Dk8w
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 18, 2025
By Joe Bello
Long Island Elite Prospects took on Yeti Baseball Select in a 15u National LI Boys of Summer midweek matchup at Diamond in the Pines on Tuesday night. The game featured great pitching and ended up with Elite taking home a 2-1 victory.
The pitching matchup featured Ethan Ruff toeing the rubber for LI Elite while Jax Cascione started on the mound for Yeti.
The Yeti started things off hot in the top of the first inning, with a bases loaded opportunity and only 1 out. Which came to be because of a hit by pitch, a single by Joey Vulin and a walk by Drew Nucci. But Ruff shut it down quickly, notching a beautifully executed 1-2-3 double play to get out of a jam.
The next bit of action on offense came in the bottom of the third inning, where Elite took a 2-0 lead. Chase LaVacca reached first on a dropped third strike passed ball, then followed by a single by Derek Shen gave Elite some life on the bases to start the inning. But it would be Tyler Keegan ripping an RBI single to left field to drive in the first run of the game for Elite. This would then be followed by a pair of walks to drive in another run, Ethan Ruff helped himself out with an RBI walk.
The Yeti would be quick to respond in the top of the fourth. They walked a total of 4 times in the inning to get their first and only run of the ballgame. It was an RBI walk by Jacob Simonson that drove in that run.
That was it for the offense today on either side. The game ended up being a 2-1 final score in favor of Elite.
Pitching was the main story of tonight’s matchup.
Ethan Ruff finished his outing with 4 innings pitched, 2 hits, 1 run, 5 walks and 2 strikeouts. While Jax Cascione finished with 4.1 innings pitched, 4 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, and 6 strikeouts.
Gio Campisi was an absolute animal out of the bullpen for Elite. He came in after Ruff to pitch the final 3 innings, where he only allowed one baserunner, a lone single, while striking out 7 of the total 10 batters he faced.
Ruff was also a bright spot at the plate for Elite, where he went 2-for-2 with 2 singles and a walk. His RBI walk of course ended up being the game-winning RBI of this one. He spoke to Axcess Baseball following the game about his approach at the plate, his pitching performance and how games like this can impact the rest of the summer.
“See ball, hit ball.” Ruff said. “I knew he was throwing strikes all game so I was trying to put bat on ball.”
“I was just pumping fastball most of the time.” Ruff added. “I was going slider on a couple of their better hitters. I knew if I got ahead I could put them away with my offspeed so that’s what I did.”
“This is like practice games,” Ruff said, “We play a lot of tournaments so it’s good to do the simple things right to get ready for the bigger games so that’s all we do.”
