Under Armour Christmas Classic – Day 1 Recap
As the players arrived in Tucson, AZ they were met with more than just new teammates. 40 degree temperatures have sent chills through everyone at the inaugural Under Armour Christmas Classic. All four Baseball Factory teams took to the fields at 2:30pm for an initial practice before their first game of the round robin part of the tournament kicked off in the evening.
In the first game Baseball Factory Navy faced off against Baseball Factory Royal. The teams got the opportunity to play under the lights at Tucson Electric Park, the stadium at the Kino Sports Complex. This is where 2001 World Champion Arizona Diamondbacks and 2005 World Champions Chicago White Sox call home for spring training. Early scoring proved to be the difference as the Royal team squeaked out a win by the final score of 3-2.
The Royal team scored all three of their runs in the first two innings which proved to be insurmountable for the Navy squad. Chase Greening (Lufkin, TX) of the Navy team came in after the three runs were let up to pitch four innings of shutout baseball. Anthony Flores (Moffat County, CO) went 2-2 with a walk in the comeback attempt by the Navy team.
As the night grew older and the temperatures sunk lower the Baseball Factory Red and Baseball Factory White took the field. The game time temperature was 37 degrees. The weather seemed to slow down all the players. The White team prevailed in a 4-1 contest, but both sides can be happy with the work done by their starters.
Casey Goodwin (Marble Falls, TX) pitched well allowing only one run. On the other side the White team’s Michael Russo (Westlake Village, CA) allowed one run on no hits while striking out six in his performance. The game changing moment came when Evan Soliman (Buellton, CA) hit a two run single breaking the 1-1 tie.
We look forward to another great day of baseball. All four Baseball Factory teams will be playing in a double header tomorrow. So as the baseball action heats up we hope so does the weather.
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