Sebastian Falduti’s walk-off hit lifts ACE to 9-8 win against Dublin

Move over, Mike Trout — there’s a new baseball player with an aquatic moniker in town.

In an intense region showdown between the ACE Gryphons and the Dublin Fighting Irish on Thursday, Sebastian Falduti — the man the rest of the ACE baseball team calls “Sea Bass” — came up clutch for the Gryphons, mashing a walk-off hit all the way to the left field fence to give ACE a 9-8 win and send his teammates pouring out of the dugout.

The thrilling victory came after the Gryphons (15-4, 11-1 in Region 2-A Division I) let a 3-run lead slip away in the top of the seventh inning. The squad bounced back and worked the count to earn walks in the bottom half of the frame, though, loading the bases before Falduti’s game-winner sent the fans home happy.

ACE head coach Bubba Pool thought the ball might go over the fence when he saw it leave Falduti’s bat. Several fans had similar reactions, rising to their feet and watching as the ball soared towards the fence and the foliage beyond it.

“I thought he did (hit a grand slam). That’s Sebastian right there, he’s a kid that does everything the right way all the time. You just love when kids like that come up in a big spot like that and deliver, because if there’s anyone who deserves it, it’s that kid right there,” Pool said.

Home run or not, the hit was plenty good enough to give ACE the victory. Perhaps the only person not sure about the clutch knock from the moment it left the bat was Falduti himself.

“A lot of people said they (thought it was a home run), but for me I really thought it was a routine flyout. I got scared (when) I got to first base and I was lookin’ up,” Falduti said. “I was absolutely astonished. It was probably the highlight of my year. I came from not playing my first three years. They needed someone to play center field and I stepped up. I feel amazing.”

And as the ball dropped in, of course, choruses of “sea bass” rang out from Falduti’s teammates.

“Gosh, I hate to say it, but my mom started it in T-ball. I guess everyone looked at me kinda weird at the first practice, like, ‘Who’s sea bass?’ That’s me, right here. They love chanting it in the dugout. It gets me riled up, makes me really happy,” Falduti said of his alter-ego.

Falduti finished with a hit, two walks and two RBIs in the contest. Pitcher William Makowski, who stayed relatively composed across five innings of work despite some tough breaks with untimely hits and walks, led the team with three RBIs off a pair of hits.

Both teams came into the contest with 14-4 records overall. Dublin had a 10-0 region record to ACE’s 10-1 mark, making the win a crucial one for the standings with the two teams jockeying for the top spot.

“I was a little nervous coming into this one because we’re coming off spring break. You never know how these teenagers will play coming off a break, but the guys came into practice yesterday and they showed up to play against a really good Dublin team tonight,” Pool said.

It looked like it could turn into a pitcher’s duel early as both lineups struggled to get hits. ACE got some solid contact against Dublin’s Xavier Reese and his somewhat funky delivery, but could not string together baserunners.

Things finally kicked into gear in the bottom of the third as a bases-loaded walk by Falduti drove in a run before Makowski helped himself out with a hit that drove in two more to make it 3-0.

The Gryphons did not hold onto the lead for long. Dublin got a rally going with two on and nobody out in the top of the fourth, and Will Wallace and Morgan Davis got back-to-back knocks to tie the game at 3-3. After two more runs, the Irish took a 5-3 lead heading into the bottom of the frame.

The Gryphons bounced right back, forcing more long at-bats against Reese to get baserunners and score before a wild pickoff throw plated the fifth run to tie it in the bottom of the fourth, 5-5. Makowski took a beanball to give ACE a 6-5 lead, which they upped to an 8-5 advantage with more disciplined hitting in the fifth inning.

Sasser then entered in relief of Makowski, escaping a jam after some walks to pitch a scoreless sixth inning, but some drama arrived in the final frame — the Irish flied out to start the inning before putting two runners on and driving one of them in with a double.

Facing an 8-6 deficit with one out and runners on second and third, Dublin’s Tal Duke laced one down the right field line, driving in both runners and tying the game, much to the delight of the Irish dugout. ACE escaped the rest of the inning with the score still tied, but the damage was done.

After two quick outs in the bottom of the seventh, the game looked destined for extra innings until Slade Hodge drew a savvy walk to give ACE some life. After Trey Barton drew a free pass and Josiah Harris reached on a catcher’s interference call, the stage was set for Falduti to walk it off.

The two-out rally reflected a trend on the night, as the Gryphons managed to draw 11 walks to fuel their offense.

“We’ve preached plate discipline all year. You may only get one good pitch in every at-bat, so you better be ready for it. I thought we all had pretty good plate discipline tonight, that was one thing I was really happy about tonight,” Pool said. “That’s tough, because that was a really good baseball team we just played tonight. The fun part is, we get to go play ‘em again tomorrow.”

The Gryphons meet the Irish again, this time on the road in Dublin, at 4 p.m. Friday.