The playoffs of the WWBA South Qualifier got underway on Sunday afternoon, but there were a few consolation games in earlier time slots and one of the top arms in those games was recent Texas A&M commit Justin Ruble (2018, Tomball, Texas). The long limbed 6-foot-5, 220-pound righthander has impressive physicality and length, both of which allowed him to create easy downhill plane on the fastball from a higher arm slot. The arm action is long through the path to release and shows some whip and looseness to it as well. He worked his fastball in the mid- to upper 80s consistently while topping out at 88 mph on the afternoon. Ruble gets easy and impressive extension down the mound and mixed in a slider that he showed a good feel for in the mid-70s. Ruble was very tough to square up on Sunday morning and although he did battle thorugh some control issues, he still showed why he was coveted by the Aggies.

Two of the more impressive underclassmen throughout the event have been J.T. Mounce (2019, Cypress, Texas) and Peyton Chatagnier (2019, Cypress, Texas), both of Hunter Pence Baseball – Danielson.

Mounce is a supreme athlete and an excellent runner, showing true centerfield traits and using his legs to be an instant threat on the bases. He was timed at 4.42 seconds to first base on a turn from the left side while hustling around the bases on a triple that knocked off the base of the wall in right field. A lefthanded batter, Mounce has a short and fluid swing path with very quick hands that allows him to cover the plate well. There is natural loft and his triple did a good job at showing his knack for finding the barrel of the bat. Line drives are his game offensively but the loft in his swing path allows him to extend and allow for an interesting power ceiling on the profile for Mounce as the No. 430 overall player in the class should have plenty of offers at the Division I level.

Chatagnier batted ahead of Mounce in the lineup for the majority of the event at the leadoff spot, and he showed solid tools in the box. The Ole Miss commit is an quality athlete, at 5-foot-11 and 155-pounds, and although he does not have blazing speed, he is fast enough to steal a lot of bases thanks to his aggressiveness on the base paths. He reads pitchers very well and consistently got excellent jumps off the pitcher to steal a total of four bases over the course of the event. The bat showed up in a big way on Sunday morning with quickness and twitch to his hands as he attacked the baseball out in front to collect three hits, including doubles. Chatagnier elevated a fastball late in the game to crush a double to the pull gap. He also has very smooth actions in the infield and showed it with an excellent play ranging up the middle at second base to nail a runner at first.

Closing out the second combined no-hitter of the tournament for Premier Baseball was talented righthander Owen Meaney (2018, Houston, Texas) and he missed an immaculate by one pitch to strike out three batters in only ten pitches. The 6-foot-5, 225-pound Texas commit pounded the zone with 90 mph fastballs and threw only two off-speed pitches. The curveball he showed at 79 mph was of the power breaking-variety with very tight spin downward with very good depth and 11-to-5 shape. The loose arm powered fastballs in with minimal effort and he certainly showed his impressive repertoire.

The playoffs started around 2:00 p.m. local time and the Banditos sent out one of their top arms in righthander Sanson Faltine (2019, Richmond, Texas). The No. 40 overall player in the class was very impressive during his six innings on the mound as he led the Banditos Black to the final four of the weekend. The future Texas Longhorn opened up sitting 87-89 mph and touched 90 mph a couple of times as well. The fastball showed excellent, late life to it and was difficult to be squared up. Faltine features a big hip turn at the top of his delivery which allows his back to face toward the hitter and helps to create an element of deception.

As he showed on Friday, the fastball-slider combination was impressive as even though he got around a few breaking balls, when he got on top he snapped off a couple of beauties. Around the second time through the lineup he went to his changeup more and more which was an effective offering. The pitch worked in the upper-70s and had good downward tumble to it and garnered a lot of swings and misses. Faltine’s talent oozes on the mound and he provided spectators with another outstanding performance.

Speaking of talented righthanders who also impressed on Friday, Braydon Fisher (2018, League City, Texas) got the start for PNT Scout Team in their playoff game and again showed his power fastball. The pitch worked in the 88-92 mph range for both of his innings on the mound and he blew the pitch by hitters fairly easily. The arm whipped through the path quickly and came out of the hand cleanly; although the pitch was mostly true in life his extension allowed for the pitch to have a little something extra on it. Fisher’s fastball was the story of his performance as the pitch was swung through numerous times in both innings as he struck out the side in the first and struck out four batters over two perfect innings.

Derrick Cherry (2018, Baytown, Texas) closed out the victory for the Banditos Black and showed off his fastball-slider combination that has been a winner thus far for him. The righthanded pitcher stands at 6-foot-1, 185-pounds and has seen time on the hill in two relief appearances this weekend. Cherry has a very long and whip-like arm action that travels through a full path to release. The fastball worked in the upper-80s and topped out at 89 mph but the weapon pitch was his sharp-breaking slider. Clocking in at the mid-70s, it has very good break to it and functioned to be thrown for both strikes and swings and misses.

There were a number of hitters who performed very well during the quarterfinal round of the playoffs, here are some notable standouts from Sunday’s action:

• Porter Brown (2018, San Antonio, Texas) showed off his strong swing yet again on Sunday with an opposite field solo shot late in the game. Brown was detailed in Friday’s notes and the power potential in his swing and frame is evident after he showed the strength to drive the ball to the opposite field and out of the park. The TCU commit’s swing is incredibly loose and he can generate good bat speed to drive the ball to any part of the field.

• Roberto Pena (2018, Pembroke Pines, Fla.) led the Banditos Black team in hitting today finishing with a 3-3 line. The Florida commit is an impressive two-way player who stood out with the bat on Sunday afternoon, he also had a short stint on the mound where he worked in the upper-80s earlier in the tournament. Pena has good bat speed and can drive the ball well to all fields. He turned the barrel over well a couple of times on Sunday for three singles including one to the deep right centerfield gap.

• Jose Gonzalez (2018, Spring, Texas) is a high level lefthanded hitter for the class and the Texas Tech commit drove a ball hard to the opposite field during HP – Crew’s loss today. Gonzalez has a very simple and easy trigger into his swing from a naturally leveraged swing path. He drove a ball over the middle of the plate hard to left field where the ball carried high off the wall.

• Dexter Jordan (2018, Hattiesburg, Miss.) picked up right where he left off on Saturday night with two more hard hit balls during NOLA’s victory. Jordan drove a fastball over the outer half down the right field line and then lined a ball to the pull side for a single. Jordan has very impressive overall hitting tools and is one of the louder bats in the class at this point.

• Chris Collet (2018, Metairie, La.) had a strong day at the plate and the yet uncommitted high school senior has incredible strength in the batter’s box. The 6-foot, 200-pound righthanded hitter has impressive raw bat speed and the strength and physicality make him a power threat to any part of the field. Collet laced two hits during Sunday’s action including a double to the opposite field gap that was absolutely scorched and one-hopped the wall.

• Adarius Myers (2018, Seminary, Miss.) showed up for the offense and reached base in three of his four at-bats today. The leadoff man was detailed in Saturday’s notes about his speed and defensive ability but his quick hands and line drive approach allow for a high contact approach. The hand quickness, in particular, was on display Sunday as he pulled his hands inside very quickly to get the bat head on a pitch on the black and drive it hard to the pull side for a standup double.