Some action from the 14th Annual DCSD Junior All-Star Classic including (clockwise from top left) Ronald Hunter (Miller Grove), Calvin Carter (M.L. King), Lawrence Reeves (Clarkston and Jacob Arnberger (Lakeside) and Sam Dale (Dunwoody). (Photos by Mark Brock)
Chamblee’s Zach Picheta singled to right field in the top of the seventh inning to drive in Druid Hills Ryan Horner to complete the West Juniors rally from a 3-0 first-inning deficit for a 6-5 victory in the 14th Annual DeKalb County Junior All-Star Baseball Classic.
Picheta was in his second inning on the mound for the West in the bottom of the sixth when Clarkston’s Lawrence Reeves singled to right to score Redan’s Tyrell Wyatt, who had led off the inning with a double and stole third, to knot the game at 5-5.
Horner was hit by a pitch with one out in the top of the seventh and stole second to get into scoring position. Chamblee’s Cian Khajavi walked to put two runners on base and the East brought starter Cesar De Los Santos back to the mound.
Santos coaxed a fly ball to get the second out of the inning and bring Picheta to the plate. Picheta was 0-3 on the day but got the bat on the ball and dropped a single into right field to score Horner with the go-ahead run to send the West into the bottom of the ninth with a narrow 6-5 lead.
Dunwoody’s Sam Dale came in in relief of Picheta in the seventh and finished off a one-two-three inning with a strikeout to get the save in the West’s victory.
The East jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first against Horner benefitting from an RBI groundout by Redan’s Josh Westbrook and a two-out, two-run single by Stephenson’s Michael Holley.
Three-straight one-out singles by the West in the top of third led to a three-run inning to knot the game at 3-3. Horner reached on an error with the bases loaded to score one of the three runs as Lakeside’s Mason Williams and Reid Brosnan as well as Dale who had all singled would come in to score.
Westbrook singled, stole second and came into score on Wyatt’s RBI single to center as the East regained a 4-3 advantage in the bottom of the third.
2023 Junior All-Star Classic MVPs were East Junior Tyrell Wyatt (Redan) and West Junior Mason Williams (Lakeside). (Photo by Mark Brock)
The West bounced back in the top of the fourth to take a 5-4 lead on a two-out, two-run single by Williams to score Lakeside’s Jose Cedeno Chacon and Dunwoody’s Brand Lawson.
Picheta got the win with two innings of work and Miller Grove’s Ronald Hunter took the tough one-run loss with two and a third innings of work on the mound.
Mason Williams became the second Lakeside junior to be named as the Most Valuable Player for the West after going 3-4 with a double, triple and two RBI in the game. The East MVP award went to Tyrell Wyatt who finished the day 2-2 at the plate with a double, RBI and two runs scored. Wyatt became the fourth Redan junior to win MVP honors and the first since 2015.
The West now leads the series 8-2 since going to the East-West format and are winners of the last five match-ups. Druid Hills Ryan Horner stole three bases in the game to tie with four others for the Junior All-Star Classic record.
See links below for the full box score and Junior All-Star records: