Wilson leads Marlins to Major TOC championship

Brady Wilson allowed only one run on two hits and struck out 12 in leading the Roseville Marlins to a 2-1 victory over the Maidu Yankees in the District 54 Major TOC championship held Monday at Deputy Jeff Mitchell Field in El Dorado Hills. The Marlins scored a run in the first inning when their first three batters got hits off Yankee starter Luke Wittig, who like Wilson, pitched a good game allowing only five hits and only one after the first inning, while striking out nine. In the bottom of the first inning, Kash Enriquez started the game with a double down the left field line and Mike Marra followed with a single down the left field line to put runners at the corners. Wilson then drove in Enriquez with a single and Brody Topo followed with a single of his own to load the bases. Caden Eason then flew out to right fielder Nelson Wood, who threw out Marra trying to score on the fly ball. Wittig then struck out Zeek Velasco to end the inning. In the top of the second, Wood reached second on after a two-out error, but Wilson struck out Oliver Menzer to get out of the jam. In the bottom of the second, Jeremiah Pacheco doubled to lead off the inning and then scored on a Yankee error to take a 2-0 lead. That's the last the Marlins would challenge Wittig and the Yankees, but it proved to be enough. The Yankees scored their only run in the fifth inning, the same inning in which they got their only two hits of the game. Wittig led off with a double and an error on a ball hit by Bryce Fearn put runners at the corners and it looked like the Yankees were in for a big inning. However, Wilson denied them by striking out Jacob Pane. Wood followed with a single to score Wittig and tighten the game to 2-1, but Wilson followed with a strikeout of Menzer and then got Cole Johnson to ground out to second base to end the threat. No batter reached base for the remainder of the game and the Marlins won it, 2-1. Wilson was the difference in the game. "Brady pitched a great game tonight," said his dad, Marlins manager Dan Wilson. "It's awesome to see your kid perform in a big moment like that. He wanted the baseball. He didn't want to come out. He wasn't excited about his pitch count getting up. He really buckled down. Every parent wants a kid like that, who wants to compete. He was throwing a fastball, curve ball and a knuckleball. He used his knuckleball to get ahead of the bigger hitters, and that made his fastball more effective." Wilson said he was shocked when the Marlins won their first game of the tournament, so one could imagine his excitement to win the whole shebang. "We've faced some really good arms and some really good teams," Wilson said "We played a lot of bonus baseball. We made a lot of trips to El Dorado Hills. We spent a lot of gas money, but that was fun. Every single player did more than I ever expected. This was a gritty, fun team." The Marlins finished the season with a 16-5-1 record, winning their last nine games on the schedule. "We came in hot and playing our best baseball," Wilson said.