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Tournaments  | Championship  | 7/28/2020

SBA Futures 2022 Goes Out on a Bang

Colton Olinger     
Photo: SBA Futures (Perfect Game)
HOOVER, AL - In a summer that has seen so many unfamiliar things one thing has never changed, when you play at Perfect Game you are competing at the highest level. You did not have to look hard to find players competing and grinding it out in Hoover Alabama these past five days at the 16U WWBA East, with 37 teams in the field, competing for 19 spots in the gold bracket and a chance to win it. Once the bracket was set Saturday night it was game on. As teams advanced through the bracket the last four standing were Excel Blue Wave who played Elite Squad Gulf South 16U in one semi-final and SBA Futures squared off with Banditos LTG Black 16U.

In semi-final number one each team had their pitching set up exactly how they wanted it. Elite Squad Gulf South sent Dwayne Primeaux, a Louisiana State commit, to the mound and Excel countered with their big righthander Riley Quick. After a scoreless first inning from each starter Elite Squad took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. Brayden Kuriger got the inning started with a single before Jimmie Johnson would execute a sacrifice bunt to move Kuriger over to second. After a passed ball allowed Kuriger to move up to third base, Jaxon Burch drove in the game's first run with an RBI single to right field. After the third inning would see each pitcher hang another zero, Excel would come out swinging in the top of the fourth. Catcher Pierce Hanna got the rally started with a big double to the left center field gap. Ryan Storey would come up next and drive in Hanna to tie the game up at 1-1. Excel would not stop there though.



The inning continued with three of the next four Excel hitters reaching base and would lead to a bases loaded situation with two outs and first baseman Sheldon Ott up. Ott came through with a huge hit to break the tie as he drove in two runs and put his team up 3-1. Riley Quick went back out in the fourth and hung another zero to hold the lead at 3-1. Excel added another run in the top of the fifth when a walk from Austin Estes came around to score on a triple from Pierce Hanna. Elite Squad pushed two more runs across in the fifth with hits from Lee Amedee and Brayden Kuriger. Riley Quick’s day on the mound would come to a close after the fifth; he gave his club five solid innings of work and left with the lead and topping out at 92 mph. Jonathan Stevens came on for the last two innings of work to pick up the save as Excel punched their ticket to the championship game with a 6-3 win.

In the other semi-final number two, SBA Futures 2022 saw Banditos LTG Bjolack 16U jump to an early lead as the top of the Banditos lineup continued to see success. Gavin Lewis Jr. got the game started with a double deep down the left field line and then came into score on a first in third play after Jayce Lacava had reached on a single. Reed Maples drove in the second run for the Banditos on a single that would bring home Lacava stretching the lead to 2-0. SBA coming into the semi-finals undefeated on the week would answer right back in the home half of the first with four runs of their own. Kane Kepley and Luke Holland each singled to start the inning and would each come around to score and tie the game up at two. Camp O’Connell added a big double to left field as SBA plated four runs in the first to take a 4-2 lead. SBA starter Alex Woody would then settle in on the mound going the next three and one-third innings with out giving up another run in his outing.

The SBA lineup was just getting started though. After putting up four runs in the first they would go on to score in each of the next four innings finishing the game with 12 runs on eight hits. The top four in the SBA lineup all finished with multiple RBI as Kepley went 2 for 4 with two RBI's, Holland went 3 for 4 with two RBI's, and William Bryant went 1 for 3 with two RBI's. SBA would turn to Ryan Wilson for the final two outs of the game as he would get a double play on the first pitch he threw and lock SBA into the championship game with a 12-2 win.

In the championship game after a scoreless first inning, Excel took a 3-0 lead with a big top half of the second inning. After taking advantage of some defensive miscues Noah Jones scored on a wild pitch to break the 0-0 tie and put Excel up 1-0. Jeff Wilkins followed that up with a single to right field plating Sheldon Ott who had reached on a single earlier in the inning. Ryan Storey plated the third Excel run with a solid at-bat on a ground ball to second base. SBA would answer in the bottom of the third with a run cutting the lead to 3-1 when William Bryant got things started with a big triple to right center field and would later come around to score on a quality at bat from Tanner Lyne. Not satisfied the Excel bats would answer right back with a run of their own in the top of the fourth. After back to back walks put two runners on catcher Pierce Hanna delivered a single to right field and stretched the Excel lead back to 4-1. Down 4-1 still and down to their final six outs the SBA bats got back to work. Tanner Lyne led the inning off with a walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Jake Koonin. With Lyne at second Matthew Suppa came through with a single putting runners at first and third for pinch hitter Scott Young. Young delivered with a double down the left field line past a diving third baseman to cut the lead to 4-2. The next man up for SBA Trey Hager recorded a single of his own, plating Suppa and bring the score to 4-3 in favor of Excel heading into the seventh inning. Mathieu Curtis came on to try and keep the score at 4-3 for his SBA squad and after surrendering two baserunners got a huge strikeout with runners at second and third to give his club a chance in the bottom half of the inning. That chance would be all his offense would need. Kane Kepley and Luke Holland each drew walks to lead off the inning and after a sacrifice bunt from William Bryant, SBA had runners at second and third with one out. With the middle infield playing back Tanner Lyne hit a two-hop ground ball to second base to drive in the run and tie the game up four runs apiece. This set the stage for Jake Koonin with a runner at third base and two outs. Wasting no time Koonin jumped on the first pitch he saw and drove a deep double just over the outstretched dive of right fielder Jake Smith to walk off the 5-4 win and crown SBA Futures 2022 the 16U WWBA East champions.

Tournament MVP: Lucas Steele a switch-hitting catcher for the Excel Blue Wave finished the tournament with eight runs scored while collecting six hits three of which went for extra bases, and six RBI's. Steele proved to be an offensive power threat from both sides of the plate as he swings with intent to do damage each time he goes to the plate.

Tournament MVPitcher: Tanner Lyne for SBA Futures 2022 finished the tournament at the top of the pitching leader board as he turned in a stellar performance for his club in the second round of the playoff. Lyne went seven full innings allowing two hits, while striking out eight, and surrendering just one walk. His fastball topped out at 89 mph with command to both sides of the plate. He also showed a hard slider in the low 80’s with good bite creating plenty of swings and misses
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