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Georgia’s Team Elite (3-0 in Pool M) and the Royals Baseball Club (3-0 in Pool N) became the first two teams to qualify for the playoff round of 16. Though each team has another pool-play game remaining, no scenario exists that another team in their respective pools could overtake them.
Team Elite won its third straight game of the tournament in the 8 a.m. block of games this morning, but didn’t clinch a playoff berth until the All-American Prospects (1-2), the pre-tournament favorite to win the pool, lost their second game of the day in the afternoon to the Midwest Blazers Scout Team, 4-0.
The Royals, the younger of the two Kansas City Royals entries, clinched a berth in bracket play by rolling over New Jersey’s Tri-State Arsenal 10-0 in a game that matched two unbeaten teams.
With a roster that includes only players in the 2010, 2011 and even 2012 draft classes, the Royals jumped all over Tri-State Arsenal pitchers Chris Jenkins (Westfield, N.J.) and Evan DeLuca (Whitehouse Station, N.J.), the two top rated pitchers in New Jersey’s 2009 draft class. The Stanford-bound Jenkins allowed three runs in 2-2/3 innings while being clocked up to 93 mph, while the University of San Diego-bound DeLuca was touched for six runs in one inning, while hitting 90.
Royals catcher Brandon Sedell (Cooper City, Fla.), just a high school sophomore, continued his hot hitting by going 2-for-2 with an RBI. Sedell is now 8-for-9 in three games. Kevin Pohle (Ballwin, Mo.) and J.R. Bradley (South Charleston, W.Va.), both junior righthanders, blanked Tri-State on three hits, striking out six between them. The 6-foot-3, 175-pound Pohle topped out at 89 mph, while the 6-3, `170-pound Bradley peaked at 88.
--AS
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