EMERSON, Ga. – After a very long and hot final day of pool play, many teams amped up for their first round of playoffs that were to be played later on Wednesday night. Some teams saw their dreams of winning the 16u WWBA National Championship come to a disappointing end, and others saw their team flourish. For those who saw their playoff run extend in to Thursday's early morning games, there is little time to reflect on the game you just played; you just have to keep trudging forward and prepare for the next.

This intense playoff format calls for extreme mental focus, and with the scalding triple-digit heat in the heart of Georgia, that is quite the tall order. However, to a team that is battle tested, keeping that focus is something that comes naturally.

Fortunately for the teams that received the 8:00 a.m. timeslot of games got to play in a brisk and breezy atmosphere without the real risk of complete physical drainage. If you were able to wake up early enough to catch these games, you were certainly in for a treat, as there were some great matchups.

The most interesting being the game between the No. 2 seed Florida Burn Pennant 2016 and the No. 34 seed Chain National teams. Despite the gap in seeding between these two teams, this game was about as close as it gets. Both teams are perennial championship contenders at Perfect Game events, and both had very respectable rosters with their fair share of college commitments, so you knew this game was going to come down to the wire.

The game began as a bit of a pitcher’s duel between both teams’ starters, but as the game progressed, both were able to muster up a tiny bit of offense and put one run on the board. The 1-1 stalemate would hold until the final inning, where Chain National would finally find their approach at the plate and put together a late inning rally. This rally proved to be successful, as they scored three runs, which proved to be just too much of a deficit for the Burn to overcome.

Chain National would prevent the Burn offense from scoring in the final inning and walk away with a 4-1 win. Their ticket to the second round of the playoffs had now been punched, and Chain National is more confident now than ever.

Even though their seed coming into playoffs was unfavorable, Head Coach Andy Burress and his squad paid absolutely no mind to it. They know what they are capable of, as their pitching staff, led by PG All-American Anthony Locey and electric 2017 lefthander D.L. Hall, has served them well thus far this tournament. Not to mention, they won the 16u BCS Finals two weeks ago, so there is no doubt in their mind they can capture the 2015 16u WWBA National Championship title.

“No matter what the seed was, we won the BCS, and we were the team to beat,” Burress said after the game. “I don’t believe in being the underdog ever. With the guys that we have, we just want to go play our game. We play defense and throw strikes; we don’t have any huge guys, but we just do the little things right. This win against the Burn was big, but for us, we just have to keep the mental mistakes down and take care of the baseball.”

The Chain National are certainly a team to watch for, but as the morning shifted from the early morning slot to the one at 10:30 a.m., more promising teams emerged as winners.

One of those teams were the Georgia Jackets, who would play their second round of playoffs against the St. Louis Gamers. The Jackets are no strangers to the intense atmosphere of the playoffs, considering they have absolutely dominated at PG 15u events earlier this summer. Last year they were able to win the 15u WWBA National championship with essentially the same roster they have in this year’s 16u tournament. They are definitely a proven squad, but they know they have a long road ahead of them if they want to add some more hardware to the trophy case.

The Jackets would draw first blood in this game, as they brought one run in off of a walk and two base hits in the opening frame.

Chaney Rogers went 2-for-4 with a big two-run home run in the Georgia Jackets 4-1 win over the St. Louis Gamers on Thursday.