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NL Brewers Sandlot 2026 Captures Axcess World Series

by Trevor Dugan 

Next Level Brewers Sandlot 2026 dominated this weekend in the Axcess Baseball World Series, winning every game via run-rule including the championship on Sunday afternoon. Richie LaVacca and Jack Regan were named co-MVPs of the tournament, as both players batted over .500 this weekend. 

The Bloomsburg University-commit Regan went 6-for-10 with two singles, three doubles, one triple and five RBIs with three stolen bases in four games for Next Level.

Richie LaVacca, who is committed to Adelphi, went 7-for-11 with five runs scored, four RBI and five stolen bases. 

After winning their semifinal matchup against Five Star National Gold, Next Level took on the Long Island Huskies in the tournament championship. The Huskies played their way into the championship after defeating the Next Level 2027 team earlier Sunday. 

Despite the run-rule ending, the championship was much closer for most of the game than one might expect.

Next Level started St. John’s commit Andrew Caramico on the mound for Sunday’s championship, while the Huskies started John Ricotta from Lindenhurst High School.

Caramico had trouble finding the zone in the first inning, allowing the Huskies to take an early lead. After loading the bases on walks and a dropped third strike, Caramico walked in the first run of the game. He surrendered another run on an RBI groundout, before striking out the final batter of the inning. The Huskies held a 2-0 lead heading into the bottom of the first. 

Ricotta was sharp for the Huskies in the first, delivering a shutdown inning to preserve the 2-0 lead. He ended the frame with a strikeout, catching a batter looking on a well placed curveball. 

In the top of the second Caramico struck out the first batter of the inning, but his control issues persisted as he walked the next two batters. At this point Next Level opted to bring in a reliever. Matthew Garib of Long Island Lutheran High School entered to pitch, and immediately forced an unorthodox double play to end the inning. A ground ball to short was flipped to second for the force out, but the runner coming from second base rounded third attempting to score. The Next Level second baseman fired the ball to home plate and cut down the Huskies’ base runner to end the inning and keep the score at 2-0. 

Ricotta tossed another scoreless inning in the bottom of the second, and got some help from his catcher. After retiring the first two batters of the inning in order, Ricotta walked the speedy Jack Murphy. Murphy attempted to steal second, but Huskies’ catcher Mark Reo came up with a perfect throw to catch the would-be base thief and end the inning. 

The Huskies were able to extend their lead in the top of the third inning. Chris Mazzola of Deer Park High School led the inning off with a double to right-center field. Next to bat was the walk-off hero of the semifinals Chris Costa from Eastport-South Manor, who came through with an RBI single to stretch the Huskies’ lead. Garib avoided any further damage, but the Huskies led 3-0 heading into the bottom of the frame. 

The Next Level offense was able to break through and get on the board in the bottom of the third inning. Garib led the inning off with a double, but his at-bat was followed by a pop out and strikeout. WIth Garib in danger of being stranded in scoring position, tournament co-MVP Jack Regan came through with an RBI single to plate Next Level’s first run of the championship and cut the Huskies’ lead to 3-1. 

After scoring his team’s first run of the game, Garib followed it up with a shutdown inning in the top of the fourth. He recorded his second strikeout of the day to begin the frame, then ended the inning by forcing a groundout, sending the Next Level bats back to work chasing two runs. 

Next Level was able to jump ahead in the bottom of the fourth thanks to a clutch triple. Following a leadoff flyout, Next Level loaded the bases with two walks and a hit by pitch. Next, Garib came to the plate and delivered an enormous bases-clearing triple to give Next Level the lead.

Following the triple Ricotta was replaced on the mound by Chris Mazzola. He recorded the final out of the inning, but Garib would come in to score on an error, and by the end of the fourth Next Level was up 5-3.

The Huskies were able to get one of those runs back in the top of the fifth. Two Huskies reached base on a single and an error before catcher Mark Reo came to the plate with two outs. With two runners on, Reo delivered a hard hit RBI single to left field to trim the lead back down to 5-4. 

The floodgates opened in the bottom of the fifth as the Next Level offense exploded for seven runs. Catholic University commit Connor Meehan began the barrage with an RBI single to left to drive in two runs. The next batter was Jack Murphy, who just missed a home run with a double off the wall to bring Meehan around to score. The fifth run of the inning scored on a passed ball, then Timmy Peguero of Long Island Lutheran High School mashed a two run double for Next Level’s third XBH of the inning. Jayden Gigante provided the finishing touch, with an RBI single to push the score to 12-4 and earn a mercy rule championship victory for Next Level 2026. 

We asked co-MVPs Richie LaVacca and Jack Regan what allowed Next Level to dominate as they did during the Axcess Baseball World Series. 

“Credit to all the guys, these were team victories.” LaVacca said. “A lot of hard work, practicing every day, and team chemistry.”

“I think the biggest thing was we had people in scoring position and we did our jobs,” Regan told Axcess. “Our pitching was amazing, I think we gave up five runs in the four games, we were just very successful overall.” 

Next Level Brewers Sandlot 2026 outscored their opponents 37-5 en route to their championship victory.