by Jacob Infald
Banfill is having a game. Huge two out RBI to extend Gorilla Baseball’s lead to 9-4 here in the bottom of the fifth. pic.twitter.com/AAIcXxq5AA
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 20, 2025
Gorilla Baseball 15U took home a 9-4 victory against B1 Ghost Parise 15U behind a seven-run onslaught in the third inning that was capped off by an inside-the-park grand slam by Ryan Banfill (Sachem North 2028). In a game with a lot of base runners and opportunities, it was Gorilla Baseball that was able to stop rallies and come up with timely hits of their own as they improved to 2-4 on the season in the LI Boys of Summer 15U American division.
Tylan Edwards (West Babylon 2027) got the start for Gorilla Baseball and he did not make things easy for himself. He walked the first two batters of the game in the top of the first before recording two strikeouts, the second of which was a beautifully placed breaking ball that caused B1 Ghost’s cleanup hitter to buckle his knees as he watched the ball drop in for strike three.
Edwards would walk the following batter before once again bearing down with his breaking ball. This time he fooled Luke Lee as Lee swung out of his shoes on a breaking ball in the dirt that had tremendous vertical movement.
In the second inning, it was more of the same for Edwards as he fooled the leadoff hitter, Owen Murray with a breaking ball for the first out of the inning. However, he went on to walk Joe Damiano (Glen Cove 2028) and the following batter JoJo Basile reached on an error.
B1 Ghost had another opportunity to score but Edwards would not give in. He struck out Michael Desiderio for his fifth strikeout of the night before forcing Michael Tancredi (Port Washington 2027) to ground out to the right side to end the threat.
The Port Washington rising junior was the starting pitcher for B1 Ghost and unlike Edwards, he had very little trouble working through the first two innings. The crafty left-hander kept hitters off balance with a variety of pitches. The only hit he surrendered in the first two innings was a two out single from Edwards in the bottom of the first.
After Anthony Chirchirillo (Sachem North 2028) relieved Edwards to start the third and he was able to complete a much more stress free inning for Gorilla Baseball, retiring the side only allowing one base runner.
Catcher Erik Anderson (Bellport 2027) led off the bottom half of the third with a single. It was at this point where Tancredi suddenly lost command. He walked the following two batters to load the bases to bring up the top of Gorilla’s batting order.
Max Dalton (Sachem East 2028) stepped into the box looking to break this game open. After his starting pitcher was able to work out of multiple jams, leaving three runners in scoring position, Dalton wanted to pick him up and make his efforts worthwhile.
Dalton jumped on the first pitch and found an open area in the turf in left field. Anderson was able to come in to score to give Gorilla Baseball their first lead of the night and were just getting started. Two batters later, Edwards hit a hard grounder to Curtis at first. Curtis, who was playing in to get the force out at home, was only able to get his body on the hard grounder to keep it in front of him. Everyone was safe and the score was now 2-0. The following batter, Zach Dutka (Sachem East 2028) hit a blooper that once again was able to find open field, Gorilla Baseball was seemingly getting every bounce to go their way.
Two batters later, with the bases loaded and two outs, Banfill came to the plate looking to blow the game wide open in favor of Gorilla Baseball. Coming into this game, they had lost three one-run games and one two run game. They wanted more insurance runs to avoid another nail biter.
Banfill took one pitch for a ball before jumping on the first good pitch he saw. He lifted the ball over Akif Kahn’s head in right field and everyone was off running, allowing all runners to score including Banfill and this was now a 7-0 game.
With the score now 3-0, the Gorillas get their big hit with two outs. Ryan Banfill (Sachem North 2028) touches them all as this moon shot clears the right fielder’s head. They now lead 7-0. pic.twitter.com/0uOQ8X7mBM
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 20, 2025
Banfill said he was just trying to piece up a ball to drive in his teammates to help his team win. His four RBI’s capped off a huge seven run inning that would ultimately be the difference maker in this game.
“Everyone was just excited that we were scoring and everyone was cheering each other on,” Banhill said.
Damiano would relieve Tancredi at this point and he would get the third out to end the inning. B1 Ghost could have gone away easily, but they would not go down without a fight. In the top of the fourth they put four runs across the plate to keep themselves in striking distance.
The inning started with three big hits from PJ Campagnuolo, Lee and Murray which resulted in two runs. Later in the inning, Desiderio hit a rope down the left field which got another run across the plate. Tancredi hit a sacrifice fly to drive the fourth run in. Chirchirillo, similar to his team’s starting pitcher, remained poised with the momentum stacked up against him. With the tying run now on deck, he struck Kahn out on three pitches to end the inning.
Damiano was able to retire the side in the fourth before running out of steam in the fifth. Chirchirillo and Edwards both hustled out infield singles with one out to set the Gorillas up for a potential big inning. Now, with Dutka at the plate there was pressure on Damiano to keep the deficit at three runs to give his team a chance to win. Unfortunately, an untimely wild pitch put both runners in scoring position. Dutka would capitalize on this mistake, hitting the ball in the air deep enough to right field to score Chirchirillo on a sacrifice fly.
Tonight’s player of the game is none other than Ryan Banfill (Sachem North 2028). He spoke about his big night at the plate and his squad’s energy in this up and down evening. pic.twitter.com/6PAwxnSdTu
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 21, 2025
Damiano’s command this inning would cost him again, walking Patrick Clark (Sachem North 2028) with two outs to bring up the dangerous Banhill. Banhill was able to get another piece, hitting a rope that dropped into center field, scoring Edwards and Gorilla Baseball now had a much more comfortable 9-4 lead.
Gorilla Baseball turned to Christian Thiakodemitris (Sayville 2027) to pitch the fifth and sixth innings. After getting through the fifth inning unscathed, B1 Ghost gave themselves one final opportunity in the sixth.
Singles by Murray and Basile put the pressure on Thiakodemitris to get out of this inning quickly with the top of the order soon approaching. Desiderio, who recorded an RBI in his previous at-bat, came to the plate looking to start a rally. Thiakodemitris continued tonight’s theme for Gorilla Baseball, timely outs in the field. He forced Desiderio to fly out to left field for the third out.
Banhill said his team has a lot of trust in the depth of their pitching staff, this allows them to save pitchers for future games and not have to over use any of their arms.
The game would be called on time limit in the bottom of the sixth and Gorilla Baseball solidified their 9-4 victory. B1 Ghost Parise looks to bounce back Sunday morning in a doubleheader against the Long Island Mustangs. Meanwhile, Gorilla Baseball now has a plus 12 run differential despite their 2-4 record. They will look to continue to add to the win column Sunday afternoon in a doubleheader against B1 Ghost Black.
