EMERSON, Ga. – In a long day of baseball where both the Stars Baseball Marucci Prime Elite 18u and Team GA Elite 17u each played four games on Sunday just to get to the Championship game, another team captured a bid to the WWBA World Championship in Jupiter, Fla.

The Stars Baseball Marucci Prime Elite 18u captured the 2015 WWBA Southeast Qualifier #2 championship thanks to a strong pitching and hitting throughout the tournament with a 11-3 win over Team GA Elite.

Trey Polewski led off the game with a walk then quickly stole second to set the table for the Stars’ offense. He advanced to third, then raced home with the game’s first run on an error by the first basemen. The Stars then loaded the bases on walks and plated two more runs on free passes to bring the score to 3-0 at the end of the first.

Stars’ starter, Anthony Simonelli, fired quick first and second innings, striking out four batters to set the tone for his team.

In the top of the third, Team GA Elite got on the board. They made two quick outs, then Darius Foster smacked a deep fly ball to right field and sprinted around the bases to end up on third with a standup triple. Matthew Pacifico came through with a clutch two-out single through the left side and past the diving third basemen to make the score 3-1.

In the bottom of the third, the Stars rallied back. John Jahn and Kam Smith each got aboard with singles to start the inning. Jahn raced around to score on a fielder’s choice after advancing to second and scoring on a bobble. That made the score 4-1 heading to the fourth.

In the fourth inning, the Stars added two more insurance runs after Michael Coritz and Polewski each reached on base hits. They both came around to score on an error by the left fielder to make the score 6-1.

Simonelli’s night was done after four innings of work. His final line saw him allowing only one run on four hits and one walk while striking out eight batters. His fastball worked at 83-86 mph and had good late movement. He also worked in a slow 11-to-5 curveball.

Team Georgia did not quit. They worked a pair of leadoff walks to start the fifth inning and eventual MVP Bo Majkowski stepped up and ripped an RBI single to left field to bring home their second run of the game. After a pitching change, Davis Murray then ripped another RBI knock to cut the deficit to three runs.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Stars blew the game open. They started the inning off with a walk, reached on an error then drew another walk. Tanner Heltibridle slapped a single to plate two runs, then a third came around to score on an error by the center fielder. Heltibridle then scored on an error by the third basemen making the score 10-3 after five.

They tacked on their 11th run of the game in the bottom of the sixth to secure the win after an RBI double from Jahn. As he slid in to second base and Alex Amos stepped on home the rest of their teammates and coaches took to the field to celebrate.

As noted, Bo Majkowski earned MVP honors hitting .474 for the tournament with nine total hits. He had two doubles, one triple and one home run with 13 RBI and eight runs scored.

For MV-Pitcher, the Stars had two worthy candidates, but the award went to Jake Agnos who tossed nine innings, earned two wins, allowed only one run and struck out an impressive 19 batters. His teammate, Owen Griffith, fired nine innings of his own, with two wins and 13 strikeouts. Both Griffith and Agnos were up to 90 mph on the mound.

“They really want to go to Jupiter and they dedicated this weekend to get themselves there.” Said Stars Head Coach Larry Prange. “(They) sacrificed personal goals to get the team to Jupiter. Getting in to Jupiter is icing on the cake.”

Assistant Head Coach Tom Ballenger also praised his players.

“These players are amazing. We talk to them about making sacrifices and giving up themselves for the team and that’s what they did.”

For a team that put everything on the line, it all paid off as they rallied and won a spot in the WWBA World Championship in late October.


2015 WWBA Southeast Qualifier #2 runner-up: Team GA Elite 17u



2015 WWBA Southeast Qualifier #2 MVP: Bo Majkowski