It was another great day for baseball in Fort Myers, Florida. The teams continued to jockey for position within their respective pools. Here’s a summary of Friday’s activity:
The FBH Angels trumped the East Cobb Braves 1-0 in a low scoring affair. Conner Davis drove home the game-sealing run for the Angels in the third inning. Both the Angels’ Bryar Christian and the Braves’ Jarrett Guest had excellent outings on the mound, but Christian was the winning pitcher with six strikeouts and zero earned runs in seven innings. Unfortunately for the Braves, they would drop their second game to the Dallas Tigers-Hernandez. Garrett Reuben and Austin King stymied the Braves’ bats for all seven innings. The Tigers caught fire in the fourth inning, and would hold on for the 5-2 win.
FTB Mizuno had no answer for the Tri-State Arsenal-Carter. The Arsenal scored early and often as they piled up twelve runs in a short four inning contest. Jack O’Reilly was sensational as he went a perfect 3-3 from the plate with three singles and one RBI. The Grintz brothers, Adam and Eric, added four more runs as the Tri-State Arsenal cruised to a 12-0 shutout victory. The Arsenal would add a second shut-out victory to their resume in their next contest against the CBC Elite. Brian McMonagle was the winning pitcher and the leading scorer for the Arsenal. He pitched four hitless innings and amassed two RBIs as his team blanked the CBC Elite 9-0.
Meticulous hitting and aggressive base-running helped the IronPigs jump out to a seven run lead in the first two innings versus the KBC 14u Red. Max Rippl was nearly unhittable on the hill, allowing only one hit in three innings of work. Cameron Wademan did not record a single hit, but he provided two RBIs on a sacrifice fly and an RBI ground-out as the IronPigs defeated the KBC Red 8-3. The IronPigs started fast in their ensuing match-up against the GoWags RiverCats with five runs in the first three innings. The GoWags came roaring back late in the game, but Rippl and Levi Shuck thwarted the RiverCats’ comeback bid to secure the 5-4 victory.
The Michigan Blue Jays-Dishman outlasted HP Baseball thanks to a brilliant two-way performance by Cameron Weston. Weston pitched three scoreless innings on the mound, and was 2-4 at the plate. Devin Dunn gave his team’s ace some run support with two RBI singles as the Blue Jays bested HP Baseball 8-5. Their time on top did not last long, as the Adirondack Heat-Black stunned the Blue Jays 8-3 with a seven-run top of the seventh to pull off the comeback win. Carson Dunkel pitched two scoreless innings and accounted for a clutch RBI triple during Adirondack’s seventh inning rally.
A five-run explosion in the second inning put the Austin Banditos-Ford up for good as they would trounce the Legends Prospects 8-1 in seven innings. Kory Schmidt led the offensive charge with three singles and a sacrifice fly, yielding three of the Banditos’ eight runs. Peyton Mills got the job done from the mound as he pitched all seven innings with one earned run. The Banditos’ pitching only got better during their next game against the CBC Elite. Hambleton Oliver had a no-hitter going through six innings, but the CBC Elite would make it interesting with a three-run seventh inning. Luckily for the Oliver, Blaine Barker and the offense had given the Banditos enough runs to secure the 4-3 win.
It was a shoot-out on Field 6 as the Kentucky Prospects battled the Zoned Redhawks. The game featured 23 total hits, nine of which went for extra bases. The Redhawks held an 11-10 lead going into the bottom of the sixth, but the Prospects’ Steven Molinet connected for a two-run triple to steal the win from the RedHawks 12-11. Cameron Langston led the Prospects with four RBIs on a perfect 3-3 day from the dish. The Zoned RedHawks would drop a second consecutive game to the FBH Angels. Davon Terry and Elizah West combined for four RBIs as the Angels overwhelmed the RedHawks 7-2.
It only took three hits for the Diamond Jacks Super 14 to fend off the Oklahoma Rawlings Prospects-Ritter. Jack Gillmer drove home one run with an RBI single in the third inning to give the Diamond Jacks the lead for good. A bases-loaded walk in the first inning and an error in the fifth proved costly for the Prospects, as they came up one run short in a 6-5 defeat.
Three EM Majors’ pitchers combined for a no-hitter versus the GoWags RiverCats. Blake Adams did the heavy lifting through five innings, while William Plafcan and Peyton Holt put the finishing touches on the Majors’ dominant 9-1 victory. Wade Elliot led the Majors’ offense with three RBIs courtesy of two singles and a double.
The South Florida Prospects 14u blanked HP Baseball 4-0 in seven innings. Rolando Leyva pitched an impressive complete game shut-out. The Prospects built an insurmountable lead in the sixth inning as Jacob Howard and Tyler Mastrogianni led the Prospects’ three-run rally with back-to-back RBI doubles.
The East Cobb Astros and the Adirondack Heat-Black totaled seven hits apiece, but four errors by the Heat tipped the scale in favor of the Astros. Jack Alexander, Josiah Miller, and Steele Chambers contributed six of the Astros’ eight runs in their team’s 8-3 triumph.