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Tournaments  | Story  | 7/21/2018

MWE, Power set for 16u duel

Bryan Cooney     
Photo: Jordan Andrade (Perfect Game)

FORT MYERS, Fla. – The stage has been set for the championship game at the 16u BCS National Championship as the MWE Bombers and Power Baseball 2020 showed their mettle by claiming quarterfinal and semifinal victories Saturday. That will create a matchup pitting one of the tournament’s top offenses against one of the best pitching staffs for the week.

The field of 96 teams to begin the tournament put forth four days of pool play competition, with each team getting three games to advance onto the second phase of pool play games. Twenty-four teams forged their way to the playoff bracket with the top eight seeds earning first-round byes.



For the Bombers, the path to the playoffs saw four wins out of six games to reach the bracket rounds as the No. 12 overall seed. In their first round matchup, the story was Gabe Nutter (2020, Kansas City, Mo.), who was staked to an early lead and he took care of the rest as he fired a five-inning no-hitter, collecting six strikeouts along the way in the Bombers’ 8-0 victory over 5 Star Stephenson.

In the second round, the Bombers saw Six Baseball 2020 Mendoza erase an early 4-0 lead through four innings with a four-run fifth. However, in the sixth Miami commit Yanluis Ortiz came up with the go-ahead RBI double as the Bombers came away with a 6-4 win to advance to Saturday’s quarterfinal.

In their early morning matchup against South Florida Select 16u, another strong pitching performance carried the Bombers as Felix Fabian Sanchez (2019, Coamo, P.R.) fired a complete-game, allowing just three hits and a lone unearned run. He was supported by a 2-for-2 day at the plate from Bryan Muniz (2020, Orange Park, Fla.), who also drove in two runs to lift MWE to a 4-1 triumph.

Advancing to the semifinals, the Bombers had to go up against the tournament’s top-seeded Florida Burn Platinum 2020 club that hadn’t dropped a game the entire week. From the start, the Bombers displayed how potent their entire lineup can be as just two batters in Jorge Figueroa (2020, Southlake, Texas) launched a two-run home run to left to put MWE in front. And they were just getting started with their offensive onslaught.

Oklahoma State commit Francisco Hernandez (2020, Laredo, Texas) nearly homered to the same spot in left three batters later but settled for an RBI double off the fence. He would score on Muniz’s double that popped in and out of the Burn’s center fielder’s glove to up the MWE to 4-0.

In the second, the Bombers plated four more runs as Ortiz and Hernandez each drove in a run with singles and Muniz brought home two more with a single to center to make it an eight-run lead.

MWE poured it on with two more runs in the third and three in the fourth as Washington commit Jordan Andrade (2020, Yucaipa, Calif.) was in the middle of the Bombers’ offense all day. He singled in a run in the third and brought home two more in the fourth with his fourth single in four at-bats to help extend the lead to 12-0.

As well as MWE swung the bats, Hernandez was equally up to the task on the mound as he completed his four innings of work with ease as the Bombers romped to a berth in Sunday’s title game.

Their opponent in the championship entered the playoffs with a 5-1 record in pool play games, good enough to earn Power Baseball the No. 7 overall seed and a first-round bye in the playoff bracket.

In their opening playoff game, the offense struck for three runs in the second inning, with Jahlani Rogers (2020, Clermont, Fla.) providing two of those runs with a double. They tacked on two more in the third and one more in the fourth to take control of the game early.

Caleb Pundsack (2020, Lake Minneola, Fla.) struck out five over his five innings on the mound as Power Baseball held on to score a 6-4 victory over Elite Squad 16u American to move on to Saturday.

In the quarterfinal, a stiff opponent stood in their way as the No. 2-seeded 643 DP Cougars Sterling looked to keep their unbeaten record intact.

Much like how the Bombers jumped on their unbeaten opponent in their semifinal win, the offense for Power Baseball kicked into high gear as the first inning saw three runs come across. David Parker (2020, Orlando, Fla.) and Zachary Levenson (2020, Oviedo, Fla.) drove in runs with RBI doubles and Rogers added an RBI single.

On the mound, Najer Victor (2020, Clermont, Fla.) surrendered two runs in the bottom of the inning, but saw his team put up a run in the second and five more in the third with Rogers again coming up with a big hit as he drove in two more with a single to center in the third.

With the big lead, Victor settled in and worked six strong innings, not allowing any runs after the first, to help Power Baseball take a 9-3 victory and move on to the semifinals.

Going up against RBI Tri Cities Red 16u the game was tight through four innings with the score knotted up at one before Tri Cities broke through with three runs in the top of the fifth to take a 4-1 lead.

However, the bats came to the rescue again for Power Baseball in the home half as Parker came up with a two-run double into the left field corner to close the margin to 4-3. After Jason Brackman (2020, Clermont, Fla.) drew a walk, Levenson bounced a high chopper that found its way to left to score Parker and tie the game at four. Brackman would move to third and he raced home with the go-ahead run on a wild pitch to put Power Baseball ahead 5-4.

With two outs, Anthony Garcia (2020, Clermont, Fla.) provided some insurance with an RBI single to center, and thanks to some wildness from Tri Cities, Power Baseball added another run on a bases-loaded walk to take a 7-4 lead to the sixth.

From there, reliever Nick Naso (2020, Winter Garden, Fla.) fired two perfect innings of relief to send Power Baseball on to the final with their 7-4 victory.

With each team having to go through an unbeaten opponent during their journey to the championship game, Sunday’s final at jetBlue Park figures to be a dandy between two battle-tested programs set to up one another as the top dog in one of the most competitive tournaments all summer long.
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