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Tournaments  | Championship | 7/7/2020

Astros Crowned Champs at Firecracker Finale

Photo: East Cobb Astros 17u (Perfect Game)
MARIETTA, Ga. - The 2020 18U Firecracker Finale came to a close Monday afternoon with the final three games of the tournament. The championship game took place on field one at the East Cobb Complex in Marietta, Georgia with the East Cobb Astros 17U taking on eXposure 17U Prime. The Astros were awarded the four seed in bracket play while eXposure ended up with an 11 seed after pool play. These two teams are both 17U, so playing for a chance to win an 18U Perfect Game tournament is something of which the coaches and players can be proud.

For the Astros, it has been continued success in each Perfect Game tournament and it was no different this week at the Firecracker Finale. The Astros completed a clean sweep of their pool while scoring 31 runs and giving up only six. On their way to the championship, the Astros took care of two 643 DP teams handily with two mercy rule victories. They were tested in the semifinal game against the East Cobb Yankees 18U, but ultimately came out with a 4-2 victory. They were powered behind their starting pitcher, Radek Birkholz, Notre Dame commit, who struck out nine batters in 6.1 innings of work and Treyton Rank, FSU commit, who also added two RBIs in the semifinal game.



The 11 seeded eXposure Prime finished pool play with two wins and one loss scoring 16 runs and allowed 15. They were able to inch out a 1-0 victory over 643 DP Cougars Pralgo in the quarterfinals. Pitchers, Colby Reynolds and Drew Patterson worked together to silence the 643 bats for 7 innings. The semifinal game was a high scoring affair between eXposure Prime and Team Elite 17U as they were able to win 9-6. Jackson Musrock, Irvin Hernandez, Cooper Kinney, Caden Rector, Andrew Grande, Colby Reynolds, and Hudson Siegler all had RBIs in the semifinal. This set up what was expected to be a competitive championship game to cap off the 18U Firecracker Finale.

It was a quiet first inning for both squads with both pitchers getting three outs unscathed. In the top of the 2nd inning, eXposure was able to play small ball piecing together two hits and two walks to gain a 1-0 lead. With bases loaded, Irvin Hernandez hit a slow grounder to the 2nd baseman to earn himself an RBI and extend their lead over the Astros by a score of 2-0. The Astros bats stayed quiet in the 2nd inning. 

After roughly an hour rain delay, the two teams took the field again after taking shelter in their respective dugouts to outlast the rain. The third inning was more of the same with the Astros starting pitcher, Andrew Armstrong, shutting eXposure down while allowing no runs. The Astros bats came alive in the bottom half of third but had nothing to show for it. They had bases loaded with no outs but could not manage to break into their deficit of two runs. 

Armstrong, after a rough second inning, showed his dominance on the mound in the fourth inning sitting down the eXposure batters in order. Despite being down two, the Astros batters continued to fight and cut their deficit in half. Joe Mack, Clemson commit, was able to get on with a walk, moving to third on a throwing error. With no outs and runners on second and third, the Astros were able to capitalize on this opportunity. Christian Moore, Tennessee commit, came up with a timely deep fly to right, scoring Mack thus making the score 2-1 after four innings. 

Armstrong was able to repeat his performance in the top of the fifth sitting down the eXposure batters in order once again. Down one run with nine outs to go, the Astros time to capitalize on Armstrong’s performance was in this inning. Michael Sharman and Radek Birkholz singled before Lleyton Lackey singled driving in one run, which tied up the game 2-2. Kristian Campbell walked, which allowed the tournament MVP, Michael Braswell, to hit an RBI single, which gave the Astros their first lead of the game. 

“I have been focusing on my mechanics at the plate and my swing,” Braswell said. “I want to have good at bats and the hits will come.” 

With the bases loaded and two outs, the Astros’ hitter, Christian Moore, delivered the knockout blow to eXposure Prime by hitting a base clearing three run double. Moore would be thrown out at third trying to extend his hit into a triple, which was the third out of the inning. This would be the final time either team scored another run. 

The top of the sixth welcomed new Astros pitcher, Austin Wainer, who shut the door on eXposure Prime allowing only one hit and striking out three in two innings of work. Wainer shut down the eXposure batters in the sixth and seventh, thus giving the victory to the East Cobb Astros 17U by a score of 6-2.

The Astros swept the accolades this week with a player on their team taking home the MVP and the MVPitcher of the 2020 18U Firecracker Finale. 

Starting pitcher and MVPitcher of the tournament, Andrew Armstrong, told PG, “I was able to battle through the weather and the rain delay.” Armstrong also mentioned that he would not have been in this position if it weren’t for the timely hitting from his teammates. 

This is the Astros third Perfect Game championship crown of the year as they look forward to competing for more championships at future PG events this summer. 

MVPitcher: Andrew Armstrong
MVP: Michael Braswell
 

Tournaments | Story | 5/24/2026

East Memorial Day Scout Notes: Days 1-2

Perfect Game Staff
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Tournaments | Story | 5/21/2026

Memorial Day Classics Set to Kick Off

Perfect Game Staff
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Southeast Memorial Day East Cobb Baseball will welcome more than 100 teams spanning the 13-17u age groups this weekend as summer baseball gets underway with the highly anticipated PG Southeast Memorial Day Classic, commencing on Thursday, May 21st. This weekend’s annual premier event will feature 11 nationally ranked teams across the five age groups with the No. 9 16u East Cobb Astros headlining the 17u division alongside top prospects such as No. 11 ranked Bryan Johnson Jr. And No. 22 ranked Georgia Tech commit, Malachi Butler. The No. 34 17u ranked 643 DP Cougars will also be a squad to watch as they will look to challenge the Astros for the championship amongst the other 14 17u division teams. While the oldest division will draw lots of attention with highly touted prospects, the 16u field is stacked with 29 total teams including three nationally ranked clubs. Over 30 top 1000...
High School | General | 5/22/2026

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Anthony Gambardella
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Press Release | Press Release | 5/22/2026

Wolforth Throwing Mentorship: Article 65

Ron Wolforth
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College | Rankings | 5/20/2026

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Nick Herfordt
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College | Story | 5/21/2026

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John Coppolella
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Tournaments | Story | 5/19/2026

Best of the Best Event Preview

Jheremy Brown
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College | Story | 5/19/2026

College Players of the Week: May 19

Vincent Cervino
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May 19th Perfect Game/Co-Players of the Week:  Carson Tinney, C, Texas  The Texas Longhorns just finished off another stellar regular season and are heading to Hoover for the SEC Conference Tournament as the No. 2 Seed this week.  To secure their 2nd place finish, they had to sweep Missouri at home last weekend and did so in large part to the power bat of Carson Tinney.  The 6-4/240 catcher from Castle Pines, CO transferred to Austin after two sensational seasons at Notre Dame and has thrived in his draft year.  In the 3-game set, Tinney collected 7 hits in 13 at-bats, scoring 5 runs, with a double, 3 home runs and he drove in 10 runs all told.  With some of the most prodigious power in the college game this year, Tinney is now slashing .321/.695/.473 with 10 doubles an incredible 20 home runs and 54 RBIs while playing in the most spacious ballpark in the...
College | Rankings | 5/18/2026

College Top 25: May 18

Vincent Cervino
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The regular season is behind us, and it is now tournament time and wow, is there a lot to still be decided.  We are a week away from the Field of 64 being announced and hosting opportunities, at-large bids, as well as automatic bids are there for the taking.  The UCLA Bruins (48-6) continue their stranglehold on the No. 1 spot in the land, finishing the regular season without losing a series all year.  ACC powers, UNC (43-10) and Georgia Tech (45-9) remain at No. 2 and No. 3 respectively and SEC regular season champs, the Georgia Bulldogs (43-12) stick at No. 4.  After that there was a small amount of shuffling within the Top 10 with No. 5 Texas (40-12), No. 6 West Virginia (37-13) and No. 7 FSU (38-16) moving ahead of now No. 8 Auburn (36-18) after they were the only team in this group to drop their weekend series.   No. 14 Florida (37-18) and No. 15...
High School | General | 5/18/2026

High School Notebook: May 18

Jordan Gates
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‘27 RHP Grant Slater (@BoydCoBaseball) gets his 1st start of the year (3rd appearance) as he works his way back. FB opened 89-92 w/ ride & was still up to 91 in the 5th (run rule), while touching 93 in the 3rd. CT worked in the mid 8s & breaking ball in mid 7s (sweep). Big summer… pic.twitter.com/w9EXl6Jmrx — Perfect Game Ohio Valley (@PG_OhioValley) May 8, 2026 Grant Slater, 2027, RHP, Boyd Co (KY) Slater made his full start of the year back on May 7th. He had appeared in a few games in relief roles prior as he has come back from a few injury bugs. The Alabama commit went five strong innings, in a complete game fashion (run rule), only allowed a couple hits, one walk, and struck out 13 batters. Slater is beginning to ramp up at the right time with postseason right around the corner. Slater’s fastball peaked at 93 mph a few times, held velocity in the...
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