FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Perfect Game BCS National Championships – formerly the PG BCS Finals – have long used a tournament format at the upper ages where teams play one set of three pool games, are re-seeded based on how they perform in those first three games, and then play another three-game set in a new pool.
It means playing six games in four days and gives each team an opportunity to face six strong opponents while trying to make its way into the playoffs. It’s been a popular way of doing things, and with teams playing that many games before bracket-play even gets started, it seems certain that the last four teams standing when the semifinal round of the playoffs arrive have earned their stripes.
Such was the case Wednesday when the results of the four quarterfinal games determined the pairings for Thursday’s semifinals. Each of these four teams have dug-in their heels and earned the right to play another day.
The semifinals will be played Thursday at City of Palms Park with Illinois-based Top Tier Hoffmann (6-1-0) playing the Florida-based Orioles Scout Team (6-1-0) at 8 a.m. and Quebec-based Academy Baseball Canada (5-2-0) taking on Georgia-based Nelson Baseball School (7-0-0) at approximately 10:30 a.m.
While all four of the quarterfinal matchups offered their own level of intrigue, the one between the Orioles Scout Team out of Fort Lauderdale and Empire Baseball out of Tampa played Wednesday at COP offered scouts and fans an exciting, energetic and enthusiastic level of play.
Chatter was a constant coming from both dugouts, as the Orioles Scout Team staked itself to a 7-2 lead after four innings before settling for a 7-3 victory.
“These guys have been playing pretty good and they’re playing (with enthusiasm),” OST head coach Alberto Rivas said in Spanish-accented English. “They are improving in each game and they’re playing better and better. I feel happy for them, and they’re excited that they’ve been playing pretty well.”
Eight batters in the Oriole Scout Team order combined to deliver 10 hits, led by Brandon O’Neill with two singles, an RBI and a run scored and Felix Torres, who also collected a couple of singles and scored a run. Angel Diaz doubled and drove in a run, and William Miranda and Marvin De La Hoz both singled and had an RBI; Ricky De Rio also had an RBI despite not having a hit, Ysnabi Capote drove in a run and scored twice.
2019 right-hander Carlos Armando Gomez gave up three runs on eight hits with three strikeouts and three walks in 6 1/3 innings of work to pick up the win.
The Empire had nine hits in the loss with designated hitter Anthony Urso going 3-for-4 with a double, an RBI and two runs; Paul Phillips singled twice and drove in a run and Dan Clancy – a Florida A&M commit – singled and drove in a run.
The Orioles Scout Team roster consists primarily of class of 2018 prospects who come from the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area. Rivas said a core group of this Orioles Scout Team roster played together most of last summer and had played in two other tournaments together before arriving at the PG 18u BCS National Championship.
“They are a (compatible) group; they know each other and they enjoy playing together,” he said. “They are just having fun; they have a lot of fun and that’s our secret.”
The OST reached the quarters in pretty conventional fashion, finishing its first set of pool-play games at 2-1 and its second set at 3-0 after outscoring those three opponents 24-9. Coincidently, their only loss here this week came in their second pool-play game against Top Tier Hoffman, Thursday’s semifinal opponent.
“We always want to play one game a time and we try to take it one at-bat at a time, also,” Rivas said. “These guys go inning by inning trying to be the best that they can be, so I think they’re already focused to (take it) one game at a time” over the next two days, Rivas said. “That’s how they’ve learned to handle it.”
Empire Baseball (2-4-1) reached the quarterfinals the hard way but were able to take advantage of the two-pool format. It limped through the first set, finishing 0-2-1 after being outscored 19-12, but went 2-1-0 in the second set (19-8) and earned a spot in bracket-play.
“It has been an interesting run,” Empire Baseball coach Drew Brogdon told PG Wednesday. “Once we made it out of that first pool, it was a matter of lining up our pitching and getting on a run, and then making sure we had pitching ready for the quarterfinals and the semifinals.”
Once in a re-seeded pool, Brogdon and his co-coach Kevin Lynn began to strategize, trying to make sure the bats they needed to get hot were given the at-bats they needed while trying to find out who else might be getting hot.
The Empire Baseball organization took a hiatus from the travel ball circuit several years ago but brought it back on the table last year and now its hitting full stride. Based in Tampa, the program brings in players from around the Tampa Bay area, and this 18u roster is made up of nice mix of prospects from the classes of 2018, 2019 and 2020.
“We have some dynamic players and some players who are role players and they know their role and they produce in their roles,” Brogdon said.
One name that jumped off the page is Braden Halladay, a 2019 switch-hitting first baseman and outfielder and right-handed pitcher who has committed to Penn State and is ranked as a top-500 in his class.
Halladay, the son of the late Roy Halladay, needed only 57 pitches to complete five innings in Empire’s 9-1 victory over Panther Baseball during pool-play; he allowed one earned run on three hits, striking out four and walking one.
“This is really a scrappy team,” Brogdon said. “We have some guys that can open up the gaps a little bit. We don’t have any true power hitters that are actually putting the ball over the fence … but we have a lot of speed on the base paths and we’ve had some timely hitting.”
The Orioles Scout Team’s official roster listed three 2018 prospects PG ranks in the top-500 nationally – right-hander/outfielder Ryan Moore, right-hander/infielder Geraldo Soriano and right-hander Rudy Gomez – and nine 2018s that have signed with colleges and junior colleges. The whole college recruiting end of things is a big deal to Rivas and his players.
“That is the reason they are here,” he said. “They are very focused and they play every game (hard) trying to reach their goals. They are hunting something here and that’s the reason they have played very good.”
Empire Baseball lists four players with college commitments, including Halladay’s to Penn State. Despite Wednesday’s quarterfinal loss and an overall losing record, Brogdon called the PG 18u BCS National Championship experience a great one for his player and one that ultimately make them better players in the long run.
“I hope they take away from it that they have to stay together and they can’t get on each other when (bad) things happen,” Brogdon said. “That’s when things can snowball and get away from you but if you come together and you’re able to put the wheels back on the track and just start making the fundamental plays that they can do it together as a team.”
Rivas’ team has at least one more game to play – the championship contest is scheduled to be played at 8 a.m. Friday at City of Palms – and shares Brogdon’s feelings about the event.
“This is an excellent experience,” he said. “I’ve never been (involved) with a tournament like this and I’m very impressed with the teams playing at this level. I’m very pleased and very surprised, too; it’s a great tournament.”
It would be remiss not to make note of Nelson Baseball School’s 1-0, eight-inning quarterfinal victory over CF Arsenal out of Orlando on Monday, when a pair of 2018 right-handers put on one righteous show.
NSB’s Nick Torres was the winning pitcher after tossing eight brilliant innings of five-hit, shutout ball, striking out 13 and walking but one; he threw 92 pitches. On the other side, Noah Santiago didn’t allow an earned run over 7 2/3 innings, striking out two and walking two; he threw but 87 pitches.
PG’s tie-breaker rule (bases loaded, one-out) went into effect in the eighth and NSB pushed across what proved to be the winning run in the bottom half on an RBI single from Ethan Underwood.