EMERSON, Ga. – Four days into the 2015 17u WWBA National Championship and many teams are picking up steam heading into the final half of pool play. There are multiple pools that look to be suited for a close finish, including Pool U, which featured a head-to-head matchup between two undefeated teams that both have a very good shot of advancing to the playoffs. CBA Marucci and Lids Indiana Bulls Grey had proven to be evenly matched going into this game, and are well aware of the implications of what a win on Monday could do for their club moving forward.

Just by comparing rosters, you wouldn’t think that these two teams would be neck-and-neck fighting for the top spot in their pool, but the Bulls have shown that they can hold their own in an elite tournament like this and hoped to gain the edge against CBA Marucci. CBA is carrying an unbelievable 14 Division I commits to mostly Pac-12 schools, but they refused to take the Bulls lightly, seeing as they are right on their heels. One slip up could mean the difference between advancing and not advancing, and CBA would bring out all the stops in Monday's game.

Even though the Bulls are undefeated, they had only been able to muster up a total of eight runs. They had won some close games, and were really going to need step up the offensive production if they wanted to stay in this game. CBA on the other hand had put up 18 runs, but behind the arm of big lefty Jack Dashwood, they would not need very many runs at all to walk away with a win.

From the very first pitch of the game, Dashwood was completely dominant. The Bulls had trouble even putting the ball in play, and his mid- to upper-80s fastball carried him to a winning decision. He racked up six strikeouts and only allowed one hit in four innings of work, and was mixing and matching very well with his location and pitch variation. His fastball had tremendous zip on it, and he kept hitters off balance with a changeup that’s equally as devastating as his breaking ball.

“I wanted to have good intensity in this game,” Dashwood said after the game. “I go out there and just try to do my best, and I know I have a good team behind my back. I came into the game telling myself I was going to do well, and each pitch I was reminding myself that. Mainly, I just wanted to keep good focus.”

At the plate and on the basepaths, CBA Marucci showed that they are extremely aggressive. By the end of the game, they put up eight hard earned runs and showed fantastic energy throughout the entire game. A big part in their 8-2 win was their ability to manufacture runs, and Head Coach Daylon Monette was very impressed with his guys energy on the field today, despite the fact they played such a late game the night before, an intense 5-3 win over Chandler World Gold.

“Today we were gritty and tough,” Coach Monette said. “We had a long game last night and didn’t get done 'til past midnight, and it was really about these guys being mature and making sure they weren’t flat. They made some mistakes and gave us some chances, and we were able to capitalize.

Jack Dashwood allowed only one hit and struck out six in four innings in CBA Marucci's win on Monday.