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Tournaments  | Story  | 3/4/2022

Team Elite Throws Shutout in Opener

Blake Dowson     
Photo: Blake Gillespie (Perfect Game)
Team Elite Academy vs. East Coast Ghost Box Score

HOOVER, Ala. -- Blake Gillespie stepped on the mound in the bottom of the first inning of Team Elite Academy’s game against East Coast Ghost with a 3-0 lead.
 
He pumped three straight fastballs for his first strikeout of the game. They registered at 92, 93, and 93 mph. He struck out the next batter on a 2-2 fastball at 92 mph. That’s one way to grab momentum right from the jump.
 
Gillespie, who is committed to play at Georgia, showed plenty of electricity, especially considering this was his first outing of the year, and as a guy who has just recently decided to focus solely on his pitching craft after being a two-way standout for years.
 
“His arm is electric,” Team Elite Head Coach James Crane said of Gillespie. “He’s a guy who has been a two-way player, he’s a 6.3 runner, too. He’s just now slotting in to be a pitcher-only, and I think the sky is the limit. I think he’s probably a 97, 98 mph arm by the time summer rolls around.”
 
His early lead was a product of an assembly line of base knocks in the first half of the inning that proved to hold up, as Team Elite won by a 4-0 final.
 
Troy Ford, the team’s leadoff hitter, walked on five pitches to start the contest, while Brayden Dowd, Jackson Cooke, and Joey Tonnotti all followed with singles, Cooke’s and Tonnotti’s of the RBI variety. Dalton Harper added an RBI ground out in the inning, as well.
 
The early lead paired with Gillespie on the mound was enough for Team Elite to take a collective breath if there were any nerves entering their first game of the PG High School Showdown - Academies.
 
Crane joked after the game that maybe it calmed his team down a little too much.
 
“Any time you get to take the mound with a lead from a pitching perspective, it’s relaxing,” he said. “But I think it relaxed our hitters too, because we didn’t score again until the sixth. So it was good and bad at the same time because we didn’t produce again for a while. But we hit some balls well today, so I think it will come together.”
 
Being that it was Gillespie’s first start of the year, Crane wanted him under 50 total pitches; he ended with 49 total bullets thrown, with six strikeouts and two hits allowed in 2 2/3 innings.
 
He handed the ball over to Gabe Allen, a pitchability lefty who was just as effective as Gillespie, although they went about their business differently.
 
In 3 1/3 innings, Allen gave up just three hits, struck out one, and induced a ton of weak contact that allowed his teammates to make plays.
 
“Gabe understands how to pitch,” Crane said. “He’s a true pitcher. Both sides of the plate, down in the zone, he can spin a breaking ball for a strike, changeup for a strike.”
 
Team Elite tacked on an insurance run in the top of the sixth inning, with Dowd starting the inning with a single and Harper scoring him on a double that hit the base of the wall in left-center field.
 
Next up for the squad is a matchup against 3MCR Navy tonight, who put up 13 runs in its first pool play game, a win over A3 Academy.
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