JOHNSTOWN, Penn. — New Orleans opened play in the 77th annual All-American Amateur Baseball Association National Tournament with an 18-3 win over North Carolina at Roxbury Park.
North Carolina’s Nico Noto homered in the first at-bat of the game to give the Disco Turkeys the early 1-0 lead. New Orleans hit the board in the second following a leadoff double by Stephen Klein, who scored on a double by JT Singletary.
Logan O’Neill singled and scored on a single by Jake Kaufmann to give the Boosters a 2-1 lead. Bryan Broussard led off the third inning with a walk and scored on a single by Cade Pregeant for a third run.
In the fourth, the Boosters sent eighteen batters to the plate to combine for thirteen runs on nine hits, including a grand slam by JT Singletary.
North Carolina picked up a run in the fourth on a solo home run and a third run in the sixth on a double.
New Orleans added two runs in the sixth following an infield error and a sacrifice fly to close the scoring en route to the Boosters 18-3, seven-run mercy rule victory to open tournament play.
Starting pitcher Carson Lore earned the win, pitching five innings and striking out five with Will Reed and Kaile Levatino each appearing one inning each in relief.
As pool play advances, the Boosters will face Columbus at 9 a.m. (CST) Tuesday and Philadelphia Wednesday.
The top two teams in each of the tournament’s four pools will advance to the quarterfinals Thursday. The games will be live streamed at facebook.com/neworleansboosters.
The New Orleans franchise is marking its 76th anniversary as a franchise of the AAABA, with its first national tournament appearance in 1946. The Boosters have captured seventeen AAABA titles and are two-time defending champions in 2019 and 2021.
Additional stats, recaps, and game notes can be found at aaabajohnstown.org.
