EMERSON, Ga. – The North East Baseball Mudhens have made the long trek from Ayer, Mass., to the beautiful LakePoint complex in sunny Emerson, Ga., with their minds set on winning a National Championship. Adding a little bit of northern flavor to this tournament, this team carries a roster of 23 college commitments from the ACC, Big Ten, and even Ivy League schools. The scorching weather down south does not seem to be affecting them, as they are off to a spectacular start in the 2015 18u WWBA National Championship.

Their first three games have all resulted in convincing wins and they now sit atop their respective pool with 22 runs scored and six runs allowed going into Sunday's game against the A’s Showcase.

The Mudhens are no stranger to success, having been ranked four times in the 18u Travel Team rankings by Perfect Game; including an impressive No. 29 ranking in 2013. They hope to return to national prominence with a nice showing at this week’s WWBA National Championship.

The A’s showcase would need to muster up everything that they could against the Mudhens if they wanted to have a chance to win, especially since the Mudhens were throwing young flame-throwing righty, Weston Bizzle. The Mudhens have yet to be truly challenged this tournament, and considering the heavy amount of talent on this team, they might not be until playoffs. Today’s game against the A’s would bring them one step closer to winning Pool D.

The game started with some wild pitching from the A’s starter, which the Mudhens capitalized on by way of sac-fly to put one run on the board in the first inning, and they would continue scoring with timely base hits throughout the rest of the game. Bizzle began his game with some very economical pitching, getting a ground ball and a double play in his first inning of work. That would be the theme this game for Bizzle; he was either getting ground balls or striking batters out, and was rarely hit hard. He only allowed two hits in his four innings of work.

Bizzle had great defense behind him, and that was shown in the second and third innings. A diving catch from the Mudhens’ right fielder and an acrobatic leaping grab from their third baseman prevented the A’s from scoring when they were threatening with the few men that they had on base.

A member of the class of 2017, Bizzle pitches beyond his years, sitting in the uppers-80s in this game, and topping out in the low-90s. He has a fantastic leg drive and a deceptive motion that hides the ball until the last second. His fastball not only has impressive velocity, but it also has dirty arm-side run and downward plane. The game of baseball can move fast sometimes, but Bizzle showed he was a smart baseball player in critical situations in this start. In the fourth inning, he fielded a groundball and helped turn an unlikely 1-3-5 double play that required quick thinking out of the young righthander.

After the fourth inning, Bizzle’s day would be finished. He would get the winning decision, as his offense backed him up and started putting up steady runs inning by inning. The game would finish by a score of 8-0.

“Coming into this start I wanted to keep it simple, and just go out there and win the baseball game,” said Bizzle. “Everybody is older than me so I had to step up a little bit and pitch well. They’re going to play hard behind me so I have to do the same for them. I’m ready for next week’s start in the 17u WWBA National Championship.”

Bizzle is playing two years up in this year’s 18u National Championship, but it is no question that he can compete at this older level. Already verbally committed to national powerhouse, Vanderbilt University, he routinely displays pitchability beyond his years. Going into his junior year of high school, Bizzle is excited to help Vandy win a National Championship.

“It makes me want to work a lot more,” Bizzle exclaimed. “It makes me proud to know that the college I’m committed to is doing so well, and it makes me want to thank the Lord. I’m blessed to be able to go there. The next two years, I just want to stay healthy and improve. It’s all about the grind.”

Not only is Bizzle a hard worker, but he also looks to have a lot of fun while playing. During Sunday's start, there were multiple instances where he would flash a smile or carry a light conversation with the umpire. He has good reason to smile, considering how well he has performed at past PG events. Bizzle holds the 21^st ranking in 2017 class, and has been named to 12 All-Tournament teams, including the honor of being the Most Valuable Pitcher at last year’s 15u BCS Finals.

He is an upbeat kid who is just happy to be playing the game that he loves. Bizzle just competed at the Junior National Showcase prior to this tournament, and was honored to have been selected to perform amongst some of the best underclassmen in the country.

“The Junior National Showcase was great,” said Bizzle. “It was a fun experience, and everyone was great to be around. I had a lot of fun with everybody. I thought I did pretty good, but I could have done better though. Every great ballplayer feels they can do better. I’d love to compete in the National Showcase next year if they ask me to go.”

Coach Matt Kruger is very impressed with this young man, and had some kind words to say about his work ethic and attitude as a person and a ballplayer.

“This is the second time that he’s come to pitch with us, and I can already tell he is a great kid,” Coach Kruger said. “He competes and mix and matches very well. One thing that’s always impressed me is his off-speed. He can throw anything in any count and he can spot it. Not many young kids can do that kind of stuff.”

Bizzle’s tournament may be over for the week, but the Mudhens have a lot of work left to do if they want to claim this year’s 18u WWBA National Championship. Coach Matt Kruger is ecstatic about his team’s 4-0 start to the tournament, but feels they have to keep the good defense up if they want to make a legit run at the title.

“Pitching was real big in today’s win,” Kruger added. “Being able to pound the zone and let your defense work is always important when it comes to winning a ball game. We’ve talked about team defense, and offensively we have done alright, but we just need to keep on playing great defense.”