EMERSON, Ga. – Twenty seven of the 40 teams in the 16u National Championship Qualifier at LakePoint have the privilege of playing in their own backyard, being from Georgia. That is not the case for the Diamond Jaxx, who traveled over 1800 miles from Salem, Utah, just for an opportunity to qualify for the 16u WWBA National Championship. The team has had to adjust to the style of play in Georgia early on, but have come back nicely with two straight wins to push their record to 2-2.

“It’s a little bit different style of play, but it’s still pretty good competition,” Lance Kinross said. “In Utah, they play a lot of small ball, and in this tournament, we haven’t seen much small ball.”

The Diamond Jaxx lost their first two games of the tournament to the BigStix Gamers 15u and Elite Training Academy. Game one was close, as the Gamers just edged the Diamond Jaxx 4-3. Cade Perkins started the game for the Jaxx, surrendering three hits, six walks and two earned runs over 4 2/3 innings. The offense, though, couldn’t push across another run, even after they responded with two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. The team would come back to win their third game, beating the Slammers Sheridan by a score of 3-2. They were aided by a strong outing by Lance Kinross, who went 5 2/3 innings, giving up only four hits and two earned runs, while striking out five. It was his second outing of the tournament, and he has turned in 7 1/3 innings thus far.

“I was able to locate my fastball really well, and then that made it so my curveball was harder to hit and adjust to,” Kinross said.

The righty also went 2-for-2 with an RBI out of the leadoff spot to help his team secure the win.

“It felt really good,” Kinross said. “I had been struggling earlier in the tournament, and it just felt good to finally get some base hits and help out the team offensively.”

The team established a tradition of coming to LakePoint last season, and is excited to be here once again. Even though they had to travel the furthest out of all the teams participating, many said that making a trip to play in a Perfect Game event is always worth it.

“It’s a really fun experience, because there’s always good competition, usually really good coaching staffs and tournament directors,” Kinross said.

Coming out to Perfect Game events provides the team with new experiences. Top-notch competition is something that a few of the players said to be a big difference from their home state of Utah, and though they see good competition, they don’t see it as often as tournaments like this provide.

“I think it’s really good. The competition’s better than the best,” Perkins said. “I think the competition is a lot better out here, the kids are bigger, and it’s a lot different out here.”

Head coach Jason Bergstrom saw the opportunity that the tournament provided for development.

“It just helps them get more comfortable for the future by playing tough competition and being in nice facilities,” Bergstrom said.

Often times, teams from the western part of the U.S. will play events in the surrounding states, but the Diamond Jaxx decided to come out to Georgia to exposure their players to college coaches in the eastern U.S., who don’t normally see their players. Although there are no commits on the team, the have many talented players, including Kyson Stein, the No. 2 ranked player in the state of Utah per Perfect Game, who can benefit from playing in front of coaches from eastern-based programs.

“Scouts can see you from the other side of the country, which is nice,” said Jason Luke. “It’s a little different atmosphere for everybody, and different people can see you that don’t usually see you every day.”

“I think being from Utah, you don’t get a lot of looks from college recruits out in Utah, but when you come to the east side, I think you get looked at a lot more,” Perkins said.

Sunday’s 6-0 win against KCXtreme 16u put the team in a tie for fourth place in their pool with the BigStix Gamers. The offense broke out early against Xtreme, scoring four runs in the bottom of the first inning. Dalton Hodge took the ball for the Diamond Jaxx and turned in six innings of one-hit, no-run ball. The 6-foot-4, 185-pound righty has 10 strikeouts over seven innings of work in the tournament. Offensively, Dallan Turner drove in two runs out of the cleanup spot for the Diamond Jaxx, going 2-for-3.

They will play the pool leader, Team GA Baseball Gold 16u, in their next game on Sunday, June 11 at 7:15 p.m.

With three games to go to attempt to win and move on to the playoffs, Bergstrom said that he wanted to see what his team is made of.

“Playing competitively and seeing the best that everyone’s got,” Bergstrom said. “Hopefully we just keep hitting the ball and play good defense and play as a team.”