“Titans’ Top Ten”—Fourteen Fine Performances from CPBL Week 3
Brody Rozen continued his torrid hitting for the 16U Titans during Week 3 of the CPBL season. Last weekend, the Titans third baseman collected six hits, four RBI’s, and four stolen bases. This weekend, Rozen offered a Holiday Weekend fireworks display by replicating his six-hit performance and punctuating it with a home run and two doubles. The Grade 11 Honor Roll student from Bill Crothers Secondary School drove in five runs and stole three bases in an impressive offensive display.
Complementing Rozen’s power surge on the Victoria Day Long Weekend were hard-hitting teammates Brandon Kedilerli—who collected three hits including two doubles and three RBI—and Parker Bifolchi, who had five knocks and two RBI to provide 16U Head Coach Sam Cawker with a “Three-Headed Holiday Weekend Hydra” in the batter’s box.
Titans 18U Head Coach Kirby Smith highlighted the offensive performance of Giancarlo Rosati who went 4 for 9 including a double, drove in four runs, earned two walks, and scored two runs. The 18U Titans’ best pitching performance on the Long Weekend came courtesy of Nathan Joly whose quality start featured a 6 innings of work during which he yielded only two earned runs, struck out five, and earned the complete game W. Coach Smith also praised the work of Joly’s catcher Ryan Barbeau: “Ryan’s defensive play behind the plate was outstanding. He threw out four runners, blocked extremely well, and commanded the strike zone while receiving.”
17U Head Coach Denis Bailey was pleased with his team’s offensive performance versus the Toronto Mets: “As a team, we hit .295 and stole nineteen bases.” In addition to praising his team’s outstanding larceny on the basepaths, Coach Bailey singled out the offensive performance of two 17U Titans: Yuya Nakamura, who returned to the Titans Top Ten Performers list by going 5 for 11 with one RBI, two runs scored and two stolen bases; and Nick Characopos who batted .400 (4/10) with one home run, three RBI, three runs scored, and two stolen bases. Coach Bailey also praised the quality start by Kaydan Gupta--five innings pitched yielding only one hit and one run while striking out three-- and the strong relief work of Matthew Calder who stuck out five and surrendered just one hit and one run over three innings.
15U Titan Aiden Lue-Pon made his second consecutive appearance on “Titans Top Ten” by going 3 for 6 with five runs batted in and four runs scored. 15U Head Coach John Bethune praised Lue-Pon’s approach and results in the batter’s box: “Aiden continues to stay hot for us at the plate, providing quality at-bats all day while working the counts. Two of his hits came with 2 strikes. He's hitting a robust .538 on the season.”
Jayden Martel made his second consecutive appearance in “Titans Top Ten” by going 4 for 6 with three runs batted in and two runs scored. Coach Bethune noted Martel’s varied contributions to the 15U Titans: “Jayden has proven to be very versatile, playing multiple positions thus far. He also raised his season batting average to an even .500.”
Aiden Stewart made his third consecutive appearance in “Titans Top Ten” with his 3-6 performance that included one run batted in and three runs scored. Teammate Michael Ventresca returned to “Titans Top Ten” for a second straight week by going 2 for 4 with two RBI’s and three walks. Coach Bethune expressed his satisfaction with Ventresca and Stewart’s consistent play in May: “Mikey and Stewie continue to be mainstays in the heart of the Titans’ order. Both are hitting over .400. They've done their jobs with RISP while continuing to play superb defence as well.”