When baseballs fly over the center field wall on the majors field at Long Park, a different kind of green monster than the one in Fenway Park eats them up: the woods.

Whether anyone could find the remnants of what Gainesville District Little League all-star third baseman Logan Bruckschen clubbed over the wall Saturday remained to be seen during the first round of the Virginia Little League District 10 Majors playoffs. The power slugger sent two pitches back over the trees against the American team from Fairfax LL, helping lead GDLL to a 8-2 win.

"He has such quick, quick hands," said Gainesville manager John Howell. "If he's concentrating, he's outstanding."

Bruckschen first cranked a solo shot in the bottom of the third inning deep enough over the wall that the Fairfax centerfielder could only turn around and begin to trot after it as it cleared the fence. The blast on a higher heater gave Gainesville a comfortable 5-2 lead and led to the GDLL dugout clearing out so Bruckschen's teammates could greet their bespectacled teammate at the plate.

"Logan: nice, nice, nice," said one of his coaches in the middle of the mix.

With runners in scoring position during his next at bat in the fifth inning and a new pitcher on the mound for Fairfax, Bruckschen cranked another shot to nearly the same spot, this time with the centerfielder leaping at the wall. His three-run jack that delivered shortstop Addison Walker and pitcher Jacob Koch put Gainesville ahead by the team's winning margin of 8-2.

"I think what Logan did was he broke the ice," said Howell. He called Bruckschen's first home run the "last piece of today's puzzle" that allowed Gainesville to not only rally, but keep up momentum and continue to put runners on the bags in later innings.

The Gainesville all-stars put their first runs on the board in the second inning after second baseman Jacob Porter and first baseman Oakley Herrewig collected singles in the first, only to be stranded in scoring position with the bases loaded.

Catcher Jack Howell cracked an RBI double to left that scored centerfielder Eric Osinski for the first run of the game, and another double from Herrewig brought home Howell and right fielder Luke Joslin. A would-be sacrifice fly to right-center field by Walker that fell past the Fairfax second baseman drove in Herrewig to give Gainesville a 4-0 lead before Fairfax catcher Eric Carlson finally stemmed the damage by catching Walker at second base.

Bruckschen provided the rest of the offensive run production from there while pitcher Koch demonstrated control and confidence on the hill. He rang up 10 strike outs in six innings, allowing four hits, no walks and one hit batsmen out of 71 pitches thrown.

Fairfax's two runs off of Koch came in the top of the third inning. With one on and two out, right fielder Seth Lockard roped an RBI double to left-center field scoring left fielder Richard Quinette, who reached on a single to left field two batters earlier. Fairfax centerfielder replicated the same feat by smacking an RBI double of his own to the warning track in left field that brought the visiting squad within two runs.

That's when Koch took over. Using a strikeout to end the inning, he gave up only two base hits the rest of the game. One went for naught anyway when Walker turned an unassisted double play in the fourth inning.

"All year, he's (been) in great command of his emotions," the manager Howell said of Koch, who helped lead the GDLL Nationals to the regular season title with a perfect 16-0 record.

The younger Howell, Koch's battery mate behind the plate, explained that whatever he signals to Koch, he does.

"It's always accurate. I mean, just always," said the catcher Howell, adding that Koch's go-to pitches for strikeouts are his fastball and cutter."

He expressed enough confidence in the team's hurler to compare him to the last current Major League Baseball player that still dawns the No. 42 jersey.

"It's just like (New York Yankees closer) Mariano Rivera coming into the 9th inning," said Howell. "We know we're going to win the game."