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Tournaments  | Story  | 6/11/2023

Ballers Baseball Punches Ticket to Semis

Riley Sheppard     
Following a semifinal exit last weekend, Ballers Baseball 17U had their eyes set on an undefeated start to the Florida Select Championship. 

And through their first four games, that mission has been accomplished - officially punching their ticket to Monday’s semifinals. 



“That was the big goal of this tournament,” Ballers head coach David Gotauco said. “Last tournament we battled, we were tired, we played five games and had rain delays.

“The team’s been coming together, pitching has been good, we're just rolling right now.” 

The latter of those four victories came against Metropolitanos Mazorra in 9-1 following a dominant fourth inning. 

Ballers right-hander Ryan Johnson received the start on the mound, allowing the lone run over his four innings and striking out seven batters. 

An RBI single from Nicolas Partridge ignited an eight-run inning for his club - a theme throughout the weekend for the future Florida Gator. 

“[Partridge] has been leading the charge,” Gotauco said. “A couple big hits, home runs, doubles, he almost hit for the cycle the other day, so he's been a big leader of the team.”

11 different players came to bat for Ballers in the frame, including an RBI double from Peyton Brenneman, a two-run double from Cooper Wright, an RBI single from Brock Thielen and a two-run single from Cooper Hughes. 

However, they were not done there, with right-hander Brodie Kyser coming in for relief in the top of the fifth and striking out three consecutive batters. 

Needing one more to reach the run rule limit, Partridge led off the frame with an eight-pitch walk, making his way home a batter later following Brantley Hayward knocking a double to close out the 9-1 victory.

And scoring runs have not been hard to come by this weekend  - marking their third time in four games scoring at least nine. However, they know to pull off a championship a strong pitching effort will be needed as well. 

“I want to see the pitchers throw a lot of strikes,” Gotauco said. “I feel like if we can get ahead of batters and we can throw a lot of strikes and minimize the walks our hitters are gonna get some runs in.”
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