by Brendan Akashian

A beautiful baseball weekend graced our visitors to Lowell from across New England as our program successfully hosted over 400+ players and 100+ coaches across eight Lowell fields for Memorial Day Weekend.

The festivities kicked off on Friday night at Shedd Park with a skills competition that showcased the speed of 14U Melchizedek Vann, the sweet swing of 13U Griffin Graham, and the throwing accuracy of future program star, 8U Landry McFadden.

Local vendors, coordinated by the Greater Lowell Chamber of Commerce, the Lowell Parks Department, numerous volunteers, parents, players and coaches all came together to showcase the best of what Lowell has to offer to our visitors on this Memorial Day Weekend.

Taking home tournament championships for our program were our 11U team, led by Head Coach Joe Kelly and 13U team, led by Head Coach Chris Snow.  Our 10U and 12U teams were tournament runners-up.  Our 8U team highlighted the week participating in the 9U tournament division and competing well throughout the weekend.

8U Baseball

Landry McFadden kicked off the weekend winning the most accurate thrower in the 9U portion of the skills competition.

The 8U team played well in their games against four 9U teams this past weekend in the Boomer Memorial Day Tournament. The team was lead on the mound by Xavien McLellan. Landry McFadden was solid at short stop and Matthew Crowley made some nice catches in the outfield. Boomer Akashian (C), Brock Upton (1B), Eamon Gilday (OF, C) and Jack Lenzi (OF, SS) were also very good defensively.

The offense was paced by Brady Snow, Brock Upton and Luke Morris all with 3 hits each. Boomer Akashian, Cody Royal and Eamon Gilday also chipped in with 2 hits each. Luke Morris led the way with 5 RBIs while Brock Upton led the way scoring 4 runs.

9U Baseball

Will Tobin started the weekend providing solid defense across the diamond and ended the weekend with a great pitching performance.

Angelo Santiago and David Cespedes continued to lead the 9U team on the mound with great pitching performances to pace the 9U staff. Blake Doucette caught in all four games throughout the weekend and continues to develop into a well-rounded catcher.

Quinn Smith was impactful at the plate, on the mound, and in the field throughout the weekend, making an impact in whatever situation he was placed in.

The team looks to finish their season strong in the Select Baseball Playoffs this coming weekend.

10U Baseball

The 10u squad had a great showing at the Memorial Day Tournament.

They started off by winning 3 of 5 events at the skills competition. Emily LeLacheur, Kalel Eang, Lucas Ros, and Victor Bellrose took home the team relay run.

Zahir Rodriguez, Junior Ventura, Sean Drinkwater, and Jacob Marion took home the team throwing event. James Kane was the fastest individual runner. Jack Royal also put in a great effort in the individual running event. Thomas Florence and Jacoby Romanowsky each held their own in the home run derby. Ryder Swett and Harry Zahareas had strong showings in the accuracy throw.

The team went 4-0 in pool play to advance to the championship game. The hometown team ultimately lost 6-2 to a solid USA Prime team. A big thank you to all the volunteers for a great tournament.

The Boomer 10s will host the Maine Lighting Elite this Sunday at Leblanc field in a best 2 of 3 series in the first round of the NB Select playoffs.

11U Baseball

Boomer 11U had great weekend at the Memorial Day tournament going 5-0 to take home the championship!

Friday night skills completion had great individual accomplishments by Emilio Cespedes (fastest runner) and Wes McDonald (home run derby winner). The relay team of Emilio Cespedes, Jack Duffy, James Mangiaratti and Matthew Matos also took home the trophy.

Starting pitching and defense was the highlight of the game play. Aleksi Romanowsky, Harry Shea, Finn Stevens, and Emilio Cespedes were dominant on the mound. They were supported by great defensive efforts by Wes McDonald, James Mangiaratti, and Matthew Matos.

Drew Durkin, Finn Stevens and Logan Kelly came through with some clutch hitting.

Boomer 11U is looking forward to the start of Select League playoffs when they host the Nor’Easters Inferno Elite team on Sunday.

12U Baseball

Players from Boomer 12U had a great time participating in the skills competition on Friday night. Boomer took home the fastest running relay in the skills competition. The competition was won by JC Sotirakos, Ryan Galvin, Jake McNeil, and Mikey Martinez.

In pool play, 12U went 3-1, advancing to the championship against Prime’s elite team where they ultimately lost.

Offensively, there were many players contributing multiple hits over the weekend including Bryceson Silva, Tyler Durkin, Ryan Galvin, JC Sotirakos, Jake McNeil, Owen White, Conor McNamara, Yoden Arias and more. Mikey Martinez hit his first home run of the season.

12U will be heading south to Cape Cod to take on the Dugout Dawgs in the first round of the gold championships. We will continue to rely on the contributions of everyone on the team to make a strong push in the playoffs.

13u Baseball

Griffin Graham started the weekend with a bang, winning the 13U Home Run Derby at the skills competitions Friday night. The 13U team then went undefeated en route to winning the 13U division of the Boomer Baseball Memorial Day Classic. Offensive standouts were Michael Rillovick (9-for-17, 2 doubles, 9 RBI), Graham (8-for-15, 1 double), Luke Floor (6-for-11, 3 triples, 6 BB), Tim Franks (6-for-13, 7 runs scored), and Cooper Snow (7-for-14, 6 runs scored). Deon Hoeun pitched well going 4 innings without allowing a run and striking out 8. Graham also stood out on the mound totaling 5 innings over the weekend allowing only 1 earned run and striking out 7. Franks, Nate Norman, Ryan Foley and Kingston Phouvong all played well defensively over the 3-day tournament.

14U Baseball

14U Had a great time at the Boomer Baseball Memorial Day Classic! We want to express our gratitude to all of our opponents and to the tournament organizers for providing a wonderful experience for all of us. Not only was the weather amazing, but so was Kieran Donahue. After placing 2nd in the home run derby on Friday night, he hit ball hard in nearly every at bat all while providing stability on the mound and on the bench. To no one’s surprise, Melchizedek Vann blazed his way to the fastest runner crown at the skills competition. Brennan Abrams was the star in a walk off victory. Closing out the win throwing 3 innings, allowing 1 hit, going 2-3 at the plate knocking in the game winning run while locking down 3rd base all weekend. Jose Lopez, Thomas Shay and Quinn Conley all hit the ball well. Cam Gabriel, George Grillakis and Jose Lopez played great defense.

15U Baseball

Most of the 15U team have wrapped up their high school seasons. Shawn Hines collected a hit in each of the final two games for Lowell Catholic. Liam White drove in the winning run in the Phillips Andover win over rival Phillips Exeter. 15U is looking forward to starting their Select League schedule this Saturday with a doubleheader at Shedd Park

16U Baseball

Jovani Ubri had 3 hits and 4 runs scored, Kelvin Perez added 2 hits and Ned Akashian reached base 5 times with 2 RBI in Lowell’s season ending win over Acton-Boxborough.

Sophomore southpaws, Keegan Hunt and John Keefe, both saw action in Central Catholic’s games with Arlington and B.C. High.

The Raiders will take on Catholic Memorial in the first round of the M.I.A.A. Tournament this week.

Will Morgan and the Chelmsford Lions will also be in action this week against Lincoln-Sudbury in the M.I.A.A. Tournament.

Dracut’s Brenden Modeski had 2 hits against Westford Academy while Riley Johnson had 2 hits against Beverly.

Andrew Reid had a hit in Middlesex School’s finale against St. George’s School.

Liam Conley led the Austin Prep at the plate and in the field against Bishop Fenwick in the final contest of the season for the Cougars.