by Nolan Locke
Frank Lombardo gets the strikeout to seal a 11-1 victory for the Yeti’s
WP: Declan Wlodarczyk
4 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 7 K’s pic.twitter.com/WeVceu2glu— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 22, 2026
Declan Wlodarczyk dominated on the mound as Yeti Baseball Silver cruised to an 11-1 victory over Baseball U LI in Friday’s 15U opening matchup of the Hot Stove Memorial Day Tournament.
Taking the hill at MacLaren Stadium for Baseball U LI, right-hander Nico Melo matched Wlodarczyk early. Both starters twirled a scoreless first inning with a pair of punchouts, though neither had an easy 1-2-3 frame. It was Wlodarczyk who faced the heaviest traffic, navigating a crucial jam with runners on second and third and two outs. Falling behind 3-1 in the count, the Yeti starter impressively battled all the way back, freezing the batter for a massive inning-ending strikeout to escape unscathed.
In the second, Melo faced more traffic after a leadoff single for the Yeti, but that runner would be quickly erased after a 4-6-3 double play gave Melo another scoreless frame. The Yeti’s defense answered with an “anything you can do, I can do better” attitude in the bottom half. Following a leadoff double by Collin Debrich, Wlodarczyk flashed some leather of his own, making a spectacular shoestring catch on a sacrifice bunt attempt before firing to second to double up Debrich and end Baseball U LI’s potential rally.
Yeti would find themselves again with a runner in scoring position at the top of the third. With two outs, shortstop Jake Toarmina ripped a single up the middle to put the Yeti up 1-0, but Melo was able to limit the damage to just one run.
Declan Wlodarczyk is our @GetGameChanger player of the game.
His dominant performance on the mound helped lead his Yeti Silvers to a 10-1 victory! pic.twitter.com/tz2i97UsQV— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 23, 2026
After taking the lead, Wlodarczyk came back to the mound and struck out the side to provide Yeti Baseball Silver a shut-down inning and a chance to extend their lead.
The Yeti bats took this opportunity and ran with it. A base hit by catcher Nick Goldsmith and an RBI single from third baseman Hawk McCoy extended their lead to 2-0.
The Yeti Baseball Silver offense kept the line moving from there as Wlodarczyk gave himself some run support, tacking on another run from a fielder’s choice ground out. Frank Lombardo followed with a two-run single to help the Yeti put up a crooked number in the top of the fourth.
From there, Yeti Baseball Silver never looked back as Wlodarczyk would continue to dominate on the mound, pitching four innings of two-hit ball while striking out seven and surrendering just one run on a Vincent LaVeglia single.
“I was just trying to get ahead,” Wlodarczyk said, “the fastball was really working for me.”
The Yeti Baseball Silver offense put up another crooked number in the top of the fifth, tacking on 6 runs to slam the door on Baseball U LI, sealing their 11-1 win to begin the tournament.
When asked about his team’s strong offensive performance, Coach Jay Loviglio highlighted one key factor. “This year we’re focusing on putting the ball in play more,” Loviglio said. “I think we probably got four or five runs today just doing that, getting those two-out or two-strike hits. Those are big hits, and we’ve got to learn how to build off that.”
Yeti Baseball Silver will look to continue their dominance in their next matchup against B1 Ghost.