GLENDALE, Ariz. – One year ago this week, a team proudly wearing the letters “CBA” across its chest and going by the official name of CBA Marucci stormed to the title at the Perfect Game/EvoShield National Championship (Underclass) tournament held here in Phoenix’s west suburbs.

That underclass team was remarkable, a solid group of 2017s led by Perfect Game All-American Tyler Freeman. It romped to a 7-0-0 mark and will return in force next weekend to see if it can once again catch magic in a bottle at this year’s PG/EvoShield National Championship (Upperclass) event. CBA Marucci teams won both PG/EvoShield National Championships in 2015.

Let’s be clear. The Temecula, Calif.-based CBA Marucci team that is in attendance at this weekend’s PG/EvoShield National Championship (Underclass) is not the same one that won here a year ago. Not even close. Every single roster spot that was occupied by a top class of 2017 prospect last September is this year filled by top 2018s and 2019s.

But that doesn’t mean this isn’t a salty or seasoned group in its own right. Most of the prospects that were here for Friday afternoon’s 5-0 tournament-opening victory over Austin, Texas-based Southwest Elite 17u were on a CBA Bulldogs Navy team that missed the playoffs but finished 3-1-0 at the 2015 PG/EvoShield Underclass nationals.

Three of those 2018s – No. 198-ranked right-hander Aaron Eden (a San Diego State commit), catcher Daniel Mendez (St. Mary’s) and middle-infielder Ethan Patrick (uncommitted) – were named to the all-tournament team.

2018 middle-infielder Kyle Velazquez (St. Mary’s) was a steady contributor then and now, and No. 83-ranked 2019 first baseman/left-hander Joseph Narango (Cal State Fullerton) was named to the 2015 all-tournament team playing for the CBA Bulldogs White.

“They’re a fun group; there’s definitely some talent on the field with them out there,” CBA Marucci head coach and the organization’s Director of Player Development Joe Spiers said Friday. “It’s a good group that I think is going to follow in the footsteps of the flagship groups that we had before them. They just love being out here and they love playing the game … and I think they should be pretty fun to watch throughout the weekend.”

The players on this team do not want to be called the tournament’s defending champion because none of them had anything to do with that title trip. But these guys certainly looked like championship contenders in Friday’s opening win, which looked good from at least one perspective: nine hits for, five hits against.

Mendez doubled, walked, drove in a run and scored two; Patrick singled and drove in a run; Max Crabbe was 2-for-2 with two RBI. Javi Espinoza, a 2019 shortstop and right-hander, singled, walked twice and scored twice and teamed with 2018 right-hander Zachary Kirby on the combined five-hit shutout, with seven strikeouts and no walks. Just don’t tell these guys there is any bigger target on their backs at this tournament than they usually play with.

“I feel like every tournament we go into we always have a target on our back,” Mendez said Friday. “CBA is a well-known name, a well-known program – we’re very good – and we’re up there nationally ranked. Everywhere we go we’re going to face the best, and that’s what you want to see. You want to see the best; great competition is what makes you better.

CBA (California Baseball Academy) Marucci has won as consistently at the Perfect Game national tournament level over the past two or three years as any program in the country. A pinnacle of sorts was reached when it won the 2015 17u PG WWBA National Championship in Cartersville, Ga., and reached the semifinals at the 2015 17u PG World Series here in the Valley.

There are seven teams that operate under the CBA umbrella playing at the PG/EvoShield Underclass tournament this weekend, including three – Marucci, the Bruins and Bruins American – that identify Temecula, Calif., as their base of operation. The CBA Bulldogs American and CBA Bulldogs National call Ontario, Calif., home; the CBA Wave is based in San Diego and CBA Nevada 2019 operates out of Henderson, Nev.

Spiers said the organization is “a little different” in the way it runs its practices and the way the coaches will construct a team’s roster on an event-by-event basis. Scouts, recruiters, parents and fans shouldn’t expect to see the same nine guys start or even the same 12 to 15 guys in the dugout from one tournament to the next.

“But because we’re such a versatile program in the sense that we can move guys from team-to-team-to-team, everybody tends to know each other,” he said. “You put a new group of nine guys out on the field but there’s already built-in chemistry because everybody knows the system; everybody knows each other.

“It’s always fun to watch guys come together who haven’t played with each other for a while because they just pick-up where they left off,” Spiers continued. “So it’s always fun to be out on the field, especially with this group here.”

It’s a group that spent the summer playing together at Perfect Game or USA Baseball tournaments, but also had members splinter off to do their own things from time-to-time, like Pac-12 Conference camps or the popular Area Code Games.

It is Spiers’ and CBA Program Director and upperclass head coach Jon Paino’s job to make sure their prospects do what best suits their individual needs while also being able to come together and compete against other nationally renowned programs at events like the PG/EvoShield National Championship (Underclass).

And this is a tournament Spiers really likes, at least in regard to its placement on the calendar. It provides an excellent opportunity for college recruiters to come out and watch these underclass prospects perform in a competitive environment, which can be especially rewarding for those players that are yet to make a commitment.

“Generally, after this month, we’ll have a couple of offers on the table and it could very well be from this event,” he said. “There definitely has been a trend that by the end of September we’ll have a few more committed guys and I think this event really helps us.”

When Speirs brings these young prospects to a tournament of this stature, the first thing he wants them to do is get better; he also wants them to have fun and stay comfortable while they’re out on the field. The development of the team is important, of course, but so is the development of the individual. The two are certainly not mutually exclusive.

At the conclusion of a tournament such as this one, the CBA coaches tell the players to go home and focus on any perceived weaknesses in the game. “Focus” is different than “dwell” because focus implies a thought process that should lead to adjustments that correct those perceived weaknesses. They also don’t want a prospect to get down on himself – avoid the “panic mode” – if an expected call from a college doesn’t come right away.

And mixed in with all of this is the desire to win a Perfect Game national championship trophy. So exactly where does winning fit into the CBA way of doing things?

“We always want to put the kid before winning but (winning is) something we come here to do,” Spiers said. “We want to come here to win, we want to come here to play against the best, and at this event that means playing (in the playoffs) on Sunday. We want to be able to get to Sunday and take it a game at a time, and if we win the event we win the event; if we fall a little bit short, that’s OK, too.”

It’s a concept not lost on the prospects. Over the last three or four years, when a young player slips on that jersey with the letters “CBA” across the front he can expect to get a ton of exposure in front of all the right sets of eyes and he can also expect to do a whole heck of a lot of winning in the process.

“Wearing ‘CBA’ across my chest is the biggest honor I’ve ever felt,” Mendez said. “You step on the field and you’re representing something more than yourself – you’re representing your family. You’re not just thinking about yourself you’re thinking about the person next to you, too.”

CBA Marucci moved to 2-0 at the PG/EvoShield Underclass with a 10-2, five-inning victory over Gamers Baseball Alaska late Friday night, a game played at the Goodyear Ballpark Sports Complex. Tristan Thomas singled and drove in three runs and combined with Velazquez on a five-inning four-hitter, allowing one earned run and striking out nine without walking a batter.

Espinosa singled, walked twice, drove in two runs and scored two; Crabbe drove in two more runs; Shae Adams doubled, drove in a run and scored two others. Espinoza finished his remarkable day having reached base six times in eight plate appearances, with four runs scored and two RBI to go with four shutout innings from the mound.

“We always have a target on our back,” Mendez concluded, “but with this team right here, we have a lot of heart; we’re going to go out there and play hard and give it our all. … I’ve been playing with these guys for almost two years now and we’ve stuck through it together, through thick and thin.”