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Tournaments  | Story  | 6/7/2018

Venom and Jackets to square off

Nate Schweers     
Photo: Gage Hoover (Perfect Game)

EMERSON, Ga. – Friday’s championship game at the 13u Perfect Game/East Cobb Invitational is set following a full day of high intensity baseball at LakePoint on Thursday. The Hit After Hit Venom will take on the Georgia Jackets Friday morning at 10:30 a.m. and here’s the breakdown of how those two teams advanced.

After a convincing win over the East Cobb Colt 45’s in the quarterfinals, Hit After Hit Venom came out swinging in game two, scoring four runs in the top of the first inning on their way to a 6-5 win over 5 Star National.



Gage Hoover picked up the win on the mound throwing 6 1/3 gutsy innings, and he relied on a defense that made plays for him all afternoon. A pair of inning-ending double plays kept Hoover’s pitch count in check, and kept 5 Star off the scoreboard.

“It was my teammates who had my back today,” said Hoover. “They made a lot of good plays that helped me keep my pitches low and go longer in the game. Those [double plays] are a big momentum changer.”

With such strong pitching on the mound, it was up to a Venom lineup that had been swinging it well all day to put enough runs to walk out victorious. After a slow start to the year, head coach Bobby Griggs was proud of the team’s hard work paying off.

“I feel like they've really come into their own over the last couple weeks. We had a late start because of middle school ball, but they put a lot of time in in the cage over the winter, and it really started to show up today. They played with a lot of grit and a lot of heart today and I was really proud of their effort.”

On the offensive side of the ball, Lane Lessmann led the way with two runs batted in, and consistently sticks to the approach of finding any way to put the ball in play. He did that consistently on Thursday afternoon, and was a big part of the reason his team jumped out to an early lead.

“You have always have to put the ball in play to score runs,” said Lessmann. “You always have to have that approach. You always have to have that approach that you know you’re going to hit that baseball.”

Lessmann did more than just swing a hot bat today, relieving Hoover to record the final two outs of the game. The save was big for the Venom, but according to coach Griggs, it was even bigger for Lane’s confidence.

“Lane has struggled all week. Lane has actually struggled since the start of the season throwing strikes. He came to me in the middle of the game and told me he figured out how he was going to throw strikes in this game, and it a really gutsy performance to finish that game today.”

In the second semifinal of the day, the Georgia Jackets were able to best the Team Elite Prospects 4-3 in eight innings. In a game that went back and forth throughout, the Jackets used clutch pitching and timely hitting to come out on top.

Deadlocked through the first seven innings of play, Jackson Westmoreland came to the plate in the bottom of the eighth with runnenrs on first and second with nobody out. Westmoreland would lay down a beautiful bunt, forcing a rushed throw into right field to walk off Team Elite.

In a game that had many tense moments, head coach Jeff Auterson could not be prouder of his team’s resiliency and calmness throughout.

“I think the big key thing is that they didn't get overwhelmed by the moment. They managed their emotions, stayed calm and collected, and put some good swings on mistakes that he [Lleyton Jones] made, which were very few. So, that situation at the end of the game was just a big moment for them to execute at the right time. I couldn't be more proud of them.”

A bright spot on the mound today came in Jackets starter Dylan Lonergan. Lonergan flashed a low-80s fastball with arm-side run, as well as a good breaking ball that kept hitters off balance.

After two thrilling victories for these two teams in the semifinals, Friday’s championship should be one for the ages.
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