FORT MYERS, Fla. – They each undoubtedly had their own reasons, but regardless of what those were the cold fact was that several of 5 Star National Dobbs’ top prospects decided to sit out this week’s 17u Perfect Game BCS National Championship.
It’s OK, really. No hard feelings. It sure didn’t seem to matter one bit to the 5 Star National class of 2018 prospects who did decide to show up and play at what for most of them will be the final PG tournament of their careers. And on Sunday, at hot and steamy – but rain- and lightning-free – jetBlue Park, they were rewarded for their commitment and sacrifice.
The No. 1-seeded 5 Star Nationals put a two-spot on the board in the bottom of the first inning and added two more in the sixth, and then followed a stellar outing from 2018 right-hander William Bowdoin to a 4-2 victory over the No. 3 Team Elite 17u Prime in Sunday’s championship game.
Warner Robins, Ga.-based Five Star National Dobbs completed its week-long stay in Southwest Florida with a 10-0-0 record; the Winder, Ga.-based Team Elite 17u Prime wrapped-up at 8-2-0.
“The bottom line is, we had a thinned-down roster but we had about 15 kids who just refused to lose,” Five Star National head coach Britt Dobbs said shortly after his players had drenched him with a cooler full of ice water. “They had to play different roles all week, they had to pitch and then go play a position because that’s the personnel we had (available); they did everything that the coaching staff asked them to do.
“I’ve been doing this a long, long time and I couldn’t be any more proud of what they accomplished through seven straight days of baseball … and to win the whole thing is absolutely huge.”
The championship game was tied at 2 in the bottom of the sixth when the top of the 5 Star order decided to get to work. Austin Knight stroked a one-out single and Aaron Sabato was hit by a pitch before Leyton Pinkney delivered an RBI single. After another HBP loaded the bases with one out, Dillon Marsh came through with a sacrifice fly.
The 5 Star Nationals had jumped out on top in the bottom of the first when Max Ferguson received a lead-off walk, Austin Knight singled and Leyton Pinckney delivered a one-out, RBI single; a second run scored in the frame on a Team Elite fielding error.
The Elite 17u Prime got within 2-1 in the top of the third with the help of a walk, a sacrifice and a one-out RBI single from Anthony Angelety. They tied it at 2 in the top of the sixth when Angelety led-off with a single and eventually came around on an RBI single from PG All-American Parker Meadows.
Meadows was one of three PG All-Americans in the Team Elite 17u Prime lineup Sunday – first baseman Kumar Rocker and catcher Will Banfield were the others – but they and their mates were kept off-balance all day by the work of crafty, 5-foot-8, 165-pound, 17-year-old right-hander William Bowdoin.
A Mercer commit, Bowdoin stayed close to home with the use of his 86-87 mph fastball, and pitched a complete game six-hitter, striking out six and walking three. While Dobbs kept Bowdoin safely within the required pitch counts and days off, the right-hander worked 12 2/3 innings during four appearances over the course of the week, didn’t allow an earned run on 10 hits, struck out 14 and walked four.
He was previously part of the Chain National team that won the 2015 15u PG BCS Finals and was named the Most Valuable Pitcher at both that tournament and the 2015 15u PG WWBA National Championship.
“He’s our absolute sparkplug,” Dobbs said. “We’ve used him to start games and we’ve used him to close games; he’s done it all. Again, because we didn’t have a full set of arms here we had to piece our way through it and try to keep him as fresh as we could and hope we could get him to this game. We knew that once we got him to this game he would come through, without a doubt.”
Pinkney finished 2-for-3 with two RBI and Knight was 2-for-3 with two runs scored to lead 5 Star; Angelety was 2-for-2 with an RBI and a run and Meadows went 2-for-3 with an RBI for Team Elite. 17u Prime 2018 right-hander Ryder Green settled in after his shaky first inning and ended up allowing just three hits and striking out five and walking one in his 5 1/3 innings of work.
Pinkney, a 6-foot-2, 210-pound 2018 catcher/corner-infielder from Kathleen, Ga., hit .462 (12-for-26) with five doubles, a triple, 13 RBI and a 1.214 OPS and was named the 17u PG BCS National Championship Most Valuable Player. He previously played for Chain National teams that won PG national championships at the 2013 13u BCS Finals the 2015 15u BCS Finals and the 2015 16u BCS Finals.
“This is actually the third time I’ve won a BCS championship, but it’s definitely the most special because it’s the last (PG) tournament I’m going to play in ever in summer ball,” Pinckney said. “It’s the last time I’m going to put on this uniform and play for this great group of coaches, so to end it with a championship is awesome; I’m so happy for the coaches and the organization.”
While Bowdoin certainly posted some MV Pitcher-worthy numbers, the award was instead shared by 5 Star right-hander Parker Pillsbury and Team Elite right-hander and PG All-American Ethan Hankins; both were equally deserving.
Pillsbury, a 6-foot-1, 190-pound left-hander and Florida State commit out of Inverness, Fla., went 2-0 in two starts and didn’t allow an earned run on eight hits in nine innings, striking out 11 and walking four. Hankins, an electric 6-foot-6, 200-pound righty and Vanderbilt commit from Cumming, Ga. – ranked the No. 4 overall prospect in the 2018 class – made one start during pool-play and threw a six-inning perfect game, striking out 13.
“We played a lot of good teams, and it’s just been a whole lot of fun down here,” Pillsbury said of the 17u PG BCS experience. “There’s a ton of good guys on (this team) and it’s just a lot of fun to play with them. We could swing it all week and our pitching was there the entire time, so we were able to take care of business.”
The two 17u PG BCS National Championship semifinal games were played Sunday morning on two backfields at the jetBlue Park Player Development Complex. Both semis featured teams from four of the most prominent travel-ball organizations in the country, with the Team Elite 17u Prime beating the Pembroke Pines, Fla.-based Elite Squad 17u Select, 8-3, and 5 Star National Dobbs blanking the Sarasota, Fla.-based Florida Burn 2018, 4-0.
The Team Elite 17u Prime used consecutive singles from Green, Tim Borden, Angelo Dispigna and Rocker – Dispigna’s and Rocker’s both drove in a run – a one-out RBI single from Angelety and a sacrifice fly from Isaiah Byers to push across four runs in the bottom of the second in their win over the No. 10 ES 17u Select (6-2-1).
They added a single run in the bottom of the fourth when Dispigna led-off with a triple and came home on a Rocker sacrifice fly, and then scored three more in the bottom of the sixth thanks to singles from Banfield and Borden, a two-run single from Justin Wrobleski and an Elite Squad fielding error.
The Elite Squad – which beat No. 2-seed SCORE international 17u Bama in the quarterfinals – pushed across three runs in the top of the fifth on the strength of a lead-off home run from Christopher Bohrer and a two-out, two-run single from Jason Thomas.
2018 right-hander Makenzie Stills – a Vanderbilt commit ranked 129th overall – worked the first five innings for the Elite 17u Prime and allowed the three runs on three hits, with five strikeouts and three walks before giving way to a pair of relievers who worked perfect sixth and seventh innings.
The right-hander Pillsbury scattered six hits over six shutout innings of work to pace the 5 Star Nationals in their win over the No. 21 Burn 2018 Premier (7-2-1). The Nationals – which scored two runs in each of the bottom of the first and sixth innings – totaled five hits and were also walked four times.
Ferguson singled twice, stole two bases and scored a run, and Pillsbury and Brayden Osborn both singled and drove in a run for 5 Star; Garrett Wallace singled twice, accounting for two of the Burn 2018 Premier’s six hits.
The 5 Star Nationals may have been playing a little undermanned at the 17u PG BCS this week, but they were not out-manned, and there is a difference between the two; it was one-for-all, all-for-one.
“This is the closest-knit group of guys I’ve ever been a part of when it comes to a team,” Pinkney said. “We love each other, we’re always rooting for each other, and everybody is pushing each other to be better each-and-every day. That’s what it takes to win championships like this, and I’m so happy that I was part of this team.”
“I don’t know that I’ll ever be more proud of this (championship),” Dobbs concluded. “I hope we win a few more down the road, but it’ll be tough to top this team. They’re just a bunch of gritty, gutty, scrappy, just get-after-it players, and I’m just proud to be a part of it.”
2017 17u BCS National Championship runner-up: Team Elite 17u Prime
2017 17u BCS National Championship MVP: Leyton Pinckney
2017 17u BCS National Championship co MV-Pitcher: Parker Pillsbury (not pictured, co MV-Pitcher Ethan Hankins)
