Take a quick glance at the profiles for Ashe Russell and Beau Burrows and you're going to find a lot of similarities. Both are righthanded pitchers that were selected to participate at the Perfect Game All-American Classic in San Diego this past summer. Both have committed to Texas A&M, and both have fastballs that have peaked at 96 mph. One is ranked fifth in the high school class of 2015 and the other eighth.

They shared co-Most Valuable Pitchers at the 17u WWBA National Championship this past summer as members of the event champion EvoShield Canes. They also were teammates at the 17u PG World Series where the Canes finished as the runner-up, and most recently participated at the WWBA World Championship in Jupiter, Fla., once again capturing the tournament crown for the now back-to-back champions.

Russell and Burrows are also the best of friends.

“Ashe and I met each other this summer in North Carolina,” Burrows said of the fast-growing friendship that he and Russell built since meeting at Team USA's Tournament of Stars in late June. “We hit it off and we're best buds now. We talk all the time, everyday, and I got him to commit to A&M so we're going to go to college together and be roommates.”

Although the two are separated by nearly 1,000 miles, Burrows helped influence Russell, who was originally committed to play for the nearby Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, to de-commit and express his intent to play for the Aggies.

“He was actually the one who gave my number out to the recruiting coordinator at (Texas) A&M and got me started in that process,” Russell explained. “Through Texas A&M and sitting on the bench five games out of eight in every single tournament we became really close.”

Both Russell and Burrows also took the mound for key playoff games at this year's WWBA World Championship.

Burrows did so against the Richmond Braves, working all four innings of a 12-0 run-rule victory that put the Canes in the quarterfinals. The young flamethrower showed his customary stuff, striking out six thanks to his 91-94 mph fastball that peaked at 95, but it was the command of his curveball that made the difference on this day.

“I felt really good,” Burrows said of his performance. “My curveball worked really well, I was throwing the ball down to both sides of the plate, I just felt really good. We all hit really well and we run-ruled that team pretty easy and I felt it was a good game all-around.”

Russell took the mound in the very first game for the EvoShield Canes, and returned to the hill for their semifinal matchup against an upstart Palm Beach PAL team. They won that game 6-2 to advance to the championship game against another loaded team, the Orlando Scorpions/Mets Scout Team.

Overall, Russell worked six total innings in Jupiter, picking up a win while striking out five. His fastball sat in the 89-93 range while peaking at 94.

“The overall experience was awesome, the environment was awesome with all of the scouts and stuff,” Russell said. “I was especially happy for Coach (Jeff) Petty because he won it last year with his team and it was exciting to see all of the kids that were on the Canes last year to get to do that. So I was happy for my teammates.

“The competition down there was awesome, it was awesome to face, that's what it's going to be (like) in the future after high school ball is over. Because there is a difference between high school ball and what was going on down there (in Jupiter).”

Ashe Russell (left) and Beau Burrows were named co-Most Valuable Pitchers at the 17u WWBA National Championship in 2014.