Yankees’ big bats lead to crown

CORONA DEL MAR — The New York Yankees of Major League Baseball are in a funk, sitting well below .500 and fourth in their division.

They probably could take some lessons from the Newport Beach Little League Double-A Division Yankees, who performed at a high level all year long and rode it to the division championship. The American League-champion Yankees defeated the National-League champion Giants, 10-2, on Saturday morning at Lincoln Elementary.

“It’s a solid group of kids, just great ballplayers,” Yankees Manager Frank DiFerdinando said. “They hit the ball very hard, their fielding is great and they have great attitudes.”

It was the Giants (13-9) who struck first, as A.J. Firey led off the game with a single and was eventually hit home by Alexander Corman. But that only served to make the Yankees (15-5-1) more pumped up.

“No biggie,” Yankees catcher Nick Sperr said. “We can always come back.”

They did that in the bottom of the first, when Sperr led off with a single and was batted home by Nicholas Borquez. Jonathan White followed with a single, and Drew Peterson walked.

With two outs, Donato DiFerdinando’s single to shortstop scored both White and Peterson, giving the Yankees a 3-1 lead. DiFerdinando finished three for three with four RBIs.

The Yankees piled on five more runs in the third, with the big hit being Brenden Hueston’s two-RBI triple. The Giants got a run back in the fourth, when Tanner Epp’s squeeze bunt scored Fritz Miller.

But the Yankees’ Sperr doubled home Matt Truninger in the fourth, and the Yankees finished off the scoring in the fifth on Hueston’s inside-the-park solo home run to right field. Frank DiFerdinando estimated that Hueston, the cleanup hitter, hit about 20 home runs this season.

“The reason I hit so many home runs is when I was little, I used to go in the back yard with my mom and hit wiffleballs,” Hueston said.

White, the Yankees’ closer, allowed no runs in the final two innings.

Patrick Kolling and John Kordich both added hits for the Yankees. Also contributing were Cody Armstrong and Billy Hoffman.

For the Giants, Epp went two for two, Connor Bass had a hit and Jacob Folsom reached base twice via two walks. Also contributing were Jack Blower, Mitch Dean, Garrett Wayne, Kian Shank, Keiran Cooper and Brett Elmajian.

The Giants went 9-7 in the regular season before putting together their playoff run.

“The character they developed in dealing with adversity and picking each other up, it was watching them become little men,” Giants Coach Jim Wayne said.

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or at [email protected].