Millburn 8U wins Frazier Invitational

The Millburn 8 & under team spent the weekend in Tom's River at the Frazier Invitational. The Tom's River fields are the home of the 1998 Little League World Series champions, but this weekend, Millburn was the champion.

The initial phase of the tournament was round robin and the youngsters began with a tough match-up against Caldwell, who jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first. However, they would have scored more were it not for Hugo Gurijala, who gunned down a runner at home with two outs from his right field spot. The pitchers took control in the second inning as both sides were unable to score. However, in the third, Gurijala walked to open the inning and then used his blazing speed to score all the way from first on a single to the outfield. It was now 1-1. Unfortunately, Caldwell came back with four more runs in the fourth and three more in the fifth. Millburn was able to score three in the fifth, but took the loss 8-4.

Next up for the eight year-olds was the Bandits from Brooklyn. Jack Lawler, Gurijala and Oliver La Londe combined to pitch a two-hitter for an 8-0 victory. On the following day, the round robin phase continued and Millburn was matched up against the Staten Island Orioles. The excellent pitching continued and Millburn held Staten Island to four hits, one of which was immediately erased by L.J. Tuso as a batter tried to stretch a single into a double and center fielder Tuso gunned him out at second. This victory put Millburn in the championship game with a rematch against the Brooklyn Bandits.