FORT MYERS, Fla. – A maiden venture into Perfect Game tournaments couldn’t have turned out any better for Youse’s Orioles. Early offense staked Corey Burton (2018, Nottingham, Md.) to a lead to work with, and the righthander cooled down a hot-hitting lineup as the Orioles defeated The Clubhouse Elite 2018s, 5-2, to win the 2017 17u PG Super25 National Championship.
“Perfect Game tournaments are obviously the best in the country, and we’re happy for our first time being here to put on a good show and I’m glad we showed that this week,” said Orioles head coach Brooks Norris.
The two clubs came into the contest as the top scoring offenses throughout the week, and the anticipation was for a high-scoring contest in the final was a possibility with each team on their ninth game and arms limited on the mound.
Clubhouse Elite worked an early scoring opportunity in the top of the first, as two men reached with the heart of the order coming up. Burton got a big strikeout of Robert Olah (2017, Trumbull, Conn.) and got Nick Lorusso (2018, Monroe, Conn.) to bounce into a fielder’s choice to get through the first unscathed.
In the bottom half of the inning, the Orioles got a leadoff single to center from Zeke Maldonado (2017, Ellicott City, Md.) and he moved to second on an errant pickoff throw by Clubhouse Elite starter John Macdonald (2018, Stamford, Conn.).
Maldonado came around to score on an RBI groundout from Paul Nixon (2018, Baltimore, Md.) to put the Orioles out in front 1-0. The Orioles had another scoring opportunity in the second inning, as they loaded the bases up with two outs, but Macdonald struck out Maldonado to end the threat.
As Burton kept putting up zeroes on the scoreboard, his teammates would add on to their lead. Macdonald was knocked out of the game in the third as the Orioles continued stringing together quality at-bats, and Will Lucas (2018, Fairfield, Conn.) came on for Clubhouse Elite in relief.
With second and third with two outs, Liam Bowers (2018, Forest Hill, Md.) came through with a two-run single to right field to give the Orioles a 3-0 lead. Maldonado brought in another run in the fourth inning with a sacrifice fly to center to make it a 4-0 Orioles.
Clubhouse Elite would get on the board in the fifth with an RBI single by Zachary McKay (2018, Fairfield, Conn.), and threatened for more as Burton faced a bases loaded, one-out jam with Lucas coming to the plate.
Norris went out for a mound visit to give his righthander a breather, and on the next pitch he coaxed a 4-6-3 double play to stem the tide and keep it a 4-1 game.
“Coach Norris came out and told me to stay relaxed and you’re just one pitch away from getting out of this and that turned out to be the case,” Burton said. “It was huge.”
The Orioles would get that run right back in the fifth, as Nick Brown (2018, Pasadena, Md.) would come around to score on an error with two outs to make it a four-run lead again.
Ben Delaubell (2018, Cheshire, Conn.) brought in a run on a sacrifice fly to center to cut the margin to 5-2 for Clubhouse Elite, but would not get any closer as Burton fired a 1-2-3 seventh to close out the victory.
“I don’t think all the kids hit how they are capable of what they can, but we had clutch hits all tournament,” Norris said. “Playing in these bigger parks, we had to go a different approach up there at the plate. Our two-out hitting was a big factor this week, and we did enough to win today and for the whole week.”
Burton has become a clutch arm for the Orioles to go to in their competition they have been in the past few years in the Mid-Atlantic and came through the biggest when Norris called upon him on Sunday.
“In the past two years, we’ve had four championship games that we’ve won with Corey on the mound at the end,” Norris said. “He’s been a relief specialist for us primarily, but we can go to him as a starter when he’s available. It’s a nice luxury to have.”
Burton’s strategy against a potent Clubhouse Elite lineup consisted of working backwards and using his curveball early in counts to pick up strikes and stay ahead in counts.
“I knew they were a good lineup heading in and it was huge to work with an early lead that my teammates got for me,” Burton said. “The whole week was great coming down here, the atmosphere and the fields, I loved everything about it.”
Brown took home most valuable player honors for the tournament, going 13-for-21 (.619) and drove in nine runs for the week for the Orioles.
“It was a great experience down here for the first time, we scored a lot of runs and the pitching staff was great,” Burton said. “Coach Norris had a great game plan with them to keep arms fresh. Having some quick games early on conserved some energy for us, and it allowed us to have fun off the field.”
Lorusso earned Most Valuable Pitcher for the week, as his semifinal performance played a large role in Clubhouse Elite getting to the championship game. On Saturday, he fired a complete game shutout with nine strikeouts and went 2-0 with 12 strikeouts in 10 innings for the week.
2017 17u PG Super25 National Championship runner-up: Clubhouse Elite 2018
2017 17u PG Super25 National Championship MVP: Nick Brown
2017 17u PG Super25 National Championship MV-Pitcher: Nick Lorusso
