2,074 MLB PLAYERS | 14,476 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
Create Account
Sign in Create Account
Tournaments  | Story  | 5/31/2022

East Memorial Hands Out Hardware

Riley Sheppard     
Photo: Burn Scout Team 2023 (Perfect Game)
17u East Memorial Day Classic

Winning a championship can be credited towards a lot of different things, but for Florida Burn 2023 one word comes to mind: identity.



“We want baseball players and that’s what we got, it's kind of a classic Burn team,” Head Coach Josh Sinibaldi said postgame. “We’re not going to light it up, but we’re going to come out here and compete and see what happens.”

Burns’ 9-0 win over Power Baseball Navy 2023 capped off an undefeated run to be crowned champions of the East Memorial Day Classic Champions in Fort Myers, Fla.

University of Florida commit Reilly Witmer would get the start on the mound for his club. Witmer worked 3 1/3 innings, strike out four batters, and allow just one hit before J.T. Long relieved him in the fourth to complete the combined two-hit shutout.

“Riley, you know he throws hard but he likes to kind of mix it up, but we were preaching attacking guys with your fastball, which he did and was in the zone,” Sinibaldi said. “And then to go to a guy like J.T. Long who only had three innings pitched and he filled it up and did his job.”

The pitching dominance was a trend all tournament for Burn, who outscored their opponents 40-2 over six games, with the only two runs they allowed coming from their first game, a 7-2 win over Power Baseball Gold.

“Our pitchers were phenomenal, they really won us a lot of these games,” Burn outfielder Michael Perazza said postgame. “I think they were the main reason that we got so far and handled business.”

Conner Spelman would get things started for the Burn offense in the first. The Jacksonville University commits’ single to left field would drive in Carter White and Sammy Mummau to begin a four-run inning.

Spelman’s two RBI would lead his team, who saw more runs tallied in the third and fourth innings from Perazza, Mummau, Jacob Riegel and Joonsung Park. Perazza would be named the tournament MVP after the game. The West Virginia commit batted .471 over the weekend while driving in three runs and stealing three bases.

“I thought a lot of my teammates could have won MVP too so it was cool that I won it, but it was really a team effort,” Perazza said.

A long weekend for Florida Burn 2023 totaled six games, including three on Sunday alone, capped off with a championship trophy. But for Perazza and the rest of his Florida Burn club, they don’t want this to be the last time they take home hardware.

“Last year we came up short in a lot of tournaments. We’d usually lose the first or second game in bracket just by a couple of runs,” Perazza said. “This year we got a couple new guys that can really help us seal the deal and I’d like to see us win a couple of the bigger tournaments around.”



18u East Memorial Day Classic

A late rally from Florida Legends wasn't quite enough to come back and claim a championship, as Neb National held onto a 5-4 lead in the seventh inning to come out on top at the 18u East Memorial Day Classic.

A run in the top of the second inning got the scoring started for Neb National, as Keegan Zinn brought four-hole hitter Jack Bello home on a sacrifice fly.

Two more runs in the third thanks to a Justin Nadeau single and a balk pushed the score to 3-0, and an error in the top of the fifth scored two more runs, bringing the tally to 5-1, after Florida Legends squeezed one across in the fourth.

Up to that point in the game, Augie Mojica absolutely dealt on the mound for Neb National. His final line was five innings pitched, just three hits, one earned run, and six strikeouts compared to just one walk. It was exactly what his team needed in the championship game.

Neb National's Derek Bermudez was named MVP of the tournament, as the Florida State commit hit .500 for the weekend, with 10 hits and nine runs scored.

Bermudez's teammate, Ashton Pocol, won MV-Pitcher honors for his two outings totaling seven innings, one hit, and 13 strikeouts.



16u East Memorial Day Classic

Co-champions were named in the 16u bracket at the East Memorial Day Classic, as Elite Squad 16u and eXposure Florida Prime share claim to the title.

eXposure had dominated its way through bracket play as the No. 6 seed, outscoring its three opponents by a score of 33-7, the seven runs coming in its first round 11-7 win over CBU 2024 United.

Elite Squad 16u played a few closer games than eXposure during their path, yet made it through without too much sweating as well. A first round 9-7 win over South Florida Giants 2024 was the closest game they played, piling on 6-0 and 9-4 wins in the quarters and semifinal.

Riley Luft was named MVP of the tournament for eXposure. Luft, a top talent in the 2024 class, hit .462 and drove in a ridiculous 13 runs over seven games. eXposure's Mateo Gray goes home with MV-Pitcher honors, as he worked to a 0.00 ERA over seven innings across two outings, striking out seven and not allowing a single hit.



15u East Memorial Day Classic

Co-champions were again named in the 15u bracket at the East Memorial Day Classic, as No. 2 seed CBU 2025 Scout Team and No. 4 seed Central Florida Wolves were set to clash in the title game.

Central Florida earned its way to the championship round by way of two straight one-run wins in bracket play, a 3-2 win over Original Florida Pokers in the second round, and a 1-0 win over Power Baseball 2025 Marucci in the semifinal.

A 2-0 win over TBT Ballers 15u National got CBU out of the second round, and a 12-1 knockout over Elite Squad 15u pushed them to the championship game.

CBU's Everett Marshall took home MVP honors, hitting .429 on the weekend with five runs scored and 10 driven in.

Central Florida's Ben Filler was the MV-Pitcher, tossing 7 1/3 scoreless innings over two appearances, striking out nine and only allowing one hit.
PG Special Events
Travel, Lodging, Entertainment
PG Partners
Recommended
About Perfect Game :: Contact us :: Terms of Use :: Privacy Policy :: Testimonials :: Job Opportunities
Copyright 1994-2024 by Perfect Game. All rights reserved. No portion of this information may be reprinted or reproduced without the written consent of Perfect Game.