FORT MYERS, Fla. – The youngest competitors to take part in the PG Series events for the summer put on a show in the 11U PG Series Classic championship game.

Southeast and Puerto Rico Blue emerged to meet in Friday morning’s championship game, with Southeast winning 12-4 over the East in their early morning semifinal while Puerto Rico Blue continued their dominating week with an 8-0 win over Central and hadn’t trailed in a single inning heading to the championship game.

Puerto Rico Blue kept that streak going as they struck first in the bottom of the first inning as Sebastian De La Cruz (2023, Rio Grande, P.R.) drove a ball through the left side of the infield to score Emanuel Mendez (2023, San Juan, P.R.) to make it 1-0.

Southeast starter Isaiah Drake (2023. Atlanta. Ga.), the younger brother of Miami Dolphins running back Kenyan Drake, did well to limit the inning to just that and was aided by his battery mate Davis Wright as he nailed a runner trying to steal third to avoid a big inning.

Southeast responded in the top of the second as Ben Traxler (2023, Sharpsburg, Ga.) and Hunter Atkins (2025. Rockmart, Ga.) started the inning with back-to-back singles, and both runners moved up to third on a sacrifice bunt by Devin Spruck (2023, Dallas, Ga.).

Mendez made a great play as he collected a ground ball and fired home to nab Traxler at the plate, but a walk by Puerto Rico Blue starter Brian Pena (2023, Carolina, P.R.) prolonged the inning and brought Drake to the plate with the bags loaded.

Drake would hit a ground ball to the hole between third and short that was gloved and a throw to second to try and force the runner was not in time, allowing Atkins to score and tie the game.

Southeast would put Puerto Rico Blue in a deficit for the first time all tournament with two runs in the third as Noah Thigpen’s one-out double and Traxler beating out an infield hit to start the rally. Thigpen (2024, Lake Park, Ga.) would slide in safely on a fielder’s choice and Traxler scored on an RBI groundout from Spruck to make it 3-1.

As Drake settled in on the mound with two scoreless innings, Southeast would continuing adding to their lead in the fourth. Drake’s one-out single was followed by a hard ground ball by Wright that rolled all the way to the wall in right-center to score Drake to make it 4-1.

Lorenzo Atwell (2023, Marietta, Ga.) would bring Wright in as he lined a single to center and he would come around to score after Thigpen’s second double of the game to make it a 6-1 advantage.

Puerto Rico Blue finally got their bats going in a big way in the bottom half of the inning. A walk. hit by pitch and an infield hit loaded the bases with one out and Eric Correa’s walk brought a run home as Drake was lifted from the game.

Atkins came on to pitch, and was unable to stem the tide as a wild pitch allowed Puerto Rico Blue to close to 6-3, and after another free pass, Angel Matos (2023, Carolina, P.R.) bounced a single through the right side brought home two more runs to make it 6-5.

Cesar Mercado (2023, San Juan, P.R.) tied the game on a single to center and Pena would give his team the lead on a two-out. two-run single to left.

Puerto Rico continued the onslaught, as they knocked Atkins from the mound and reliever Evan Doss (2023, Jackson, Ga.) not having much luck either as Johntiel Sevilla (2023, Bayamon, P.R.) made it 9-6 on a single to left, scoring Christian Chamorro (2023, Guarbo, P.R.) who had doubled to center to keep the inning alive.

Anthony Sanchez (2023, Rio Grande, P.R.) brought Sevilla in on another base hit to left, and Sanchez would make his way around the bases eventually scoring on a wild pitch to make it a 10-run inning and give Puerto Rico Blue an 11-6 lead.

In the fifth, Puerto Rico Blue added one more run as Correa (2023, Carolina, P.R.) brought home Derek Castillo (2023, Ponce, P.R.) on a double to the center field wall to make it 12-6.

Southeast went down fighting in the sixth, as Thigpen’s sacrifice fly brought in Wright and Atwell and Tyler Blizzard (2024, Columbus, Ga.) scoring runs on wild pitches, but it was not enough as Correa finished the job on the mound getting a flyout to left field to end the game.

There were co-MVPs for the week as Wright and De La Cruz shared the honors representing the two teams in the championship well as Wright batted .714 (10-for-14) with six RBIs and De La Cruz driving in 11 runs to go with his .688 average (11-for-16) for Southeast and Puerto Rico Blue respectively.

Mendez earned Most Valuable Pitcher for the tournament as he had a dazzling outing against Puerto Rico White in Puerto Rico Blue’s quarterfinal win, striking out 11 in 5 1/3 innings. Mendez finished with seven innings and surrendering only three hits for the week.


2017 11u PG Series Classic runner-up: Southeast



2017 11u PG Series Classic co-Most Valuable Players: Davis Wright and Sebastian De La Cruz



2017 11u PG Series Class Most Valuable Pitcher: Emanuel Mendez