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Tournaments  | Story  | 7/1/2018

BCS title written in the Stars

Jeff Dahn     
Photo: Molina Stars (Perfect Game)

FORT MYERS, Fla. – During a conversation with Perfect Game shortly after his team had pulled off a victory over highly regarded Team Elite 15u Prime in the quarterfinals at the PG 15u BCS National Championship on Saturday, Molina Stars head coach Pete Greenwood spoke about expectations.

The only expectations he had of this team, he said, were those regarding effort. The Stars’ coaches didn’t talk about expectations of outcome, he explained, because that’s not always relevant in 15u summertime baseball.

Well, if it’s effort that counts, Greenwood saw plenty from his Stars’ players Sunday morning at jetBlue Park, and he’s certainly in no position to argue with the outcome, either.

The McLean, Va.-based Molina Stars bolted to leads of 2-0 after one inning and 6-0 after four and 2021 right-hander Nathan Knowles took a no-hitter into the fifth, and the Stars held on to top the Little Rock, Ark.-based Sticks Baseball Academy 2021 Elite, 6-3, in the PG 15u BCS championship game.

The victory capped an amazing week of play for the Stars (8-2-0), who won the program’s first PG national championship.

“That was our 10th game in (seven) days, and just being out on the field and playing as hard as you can, that’s really all the effort you can ask,” Greenwood said postgame Sunday. “They put forth good effort; anybody that makes it this far, that’s a lot of effort they’ve put in.”

Knowles ended up allowing one earned run on three hits while striking out seven without issuing a walk in five complete innings, and that was more than enough. The Sticks were able to plate a couple of runs in the bottom of the seventh against the Stars’ pen, but Knowles had done his job.

“Being at jetBlue, I was just trying to throw strikes, have fun, enjoy this scenery; I just wanted to have a good time here,” he said. “I was feeling really nice – of course, the mound is perfect – and I was just groovin’,”

Molina scored its six runs on seven hits, led by a 3-for-4, two doubles effort from James Triantos; David Zamora and Colin Tuft each drove in two runs apiece.

What made the Stars’ early run-scoring outburst all the more remarkable is that it came against Sticks BA 2021 Elite ace Nicholas Griffin. A 2020 left-hander and Arkansas commit ranked No. 19 overall nationally, Griffin gave up the six runs (four earned) on three hits and five walks in 2 2/3 innings of work.

Another Arkansas recruit, 2021 No. 171-ranked righty Austin Ledbetter came in and righted the ship, shutting out the Stars on two hits over the next 3 1/3. Jackson Harris had a pair of doubles and drove in a run and Traejon Blake doubled, singled and had an RBI to pace the Sticks BA 2021 Elite (8-0-1) at the plate.

The Stars’ Dan Merkel, a 5-foot-11, 180-pound 2021 outfielder from Millstone, N.J., went 1-for-3 with a run scored in the championship game, and finished the tournament batting 11-for-28 (.393) with two triples, a double, six RBI and two stolen bases; he hits from the leadoff spot in the Stars' order.

Merkel also made three appearances on the mound without giving up a run on four hits in 7 1/3 innings, striking out 11 and walking five; he was named the Most Valuable Player.

“We started the week off slow but we started getting better beating good teams like Team Elite,” he said. “We came in here and we knew Knowles was going to shut (Sticks) down and that we could hit fast pitching, and we were confident throughout the whole game.

“As the (competition) got better we (grew) closer,” he added. “We were cheering for each other, we believed in each other and we had each other’s backs the whole time.”

The start in the championship game was the fourth appearance of the week for Knowles, a 5-foot-11, 165-pounder from Arlington, Va. He worked 10 2/3 innings over those appearances, surrendering two earned runs (1.70 ERA) on eight hits with 14 strikeouts and but two walks; he was named the Most Valuable Pitcher.

The Stars arrived at this tournament carrying a 14-man roster and all 14 contributed to the championship in one way or another. Greenwood also pointed out the team is relatively young, with four of those roster spots filled by guys who are eligible to be playing at the 14u level.

And now they can look forward to playing at the PG 15u WWBA National Championship in the north Atlanta suburbs July 13-20. They will arrive with a bit of a bounce in their steps.

“At first, at the beginning of the week, it’s definitely about the expectations, and then as you get rolling and get better, it gets a little bit more exciting,” Greenwood said. “The adrenaline of ‘let’s see how far we can go’ kind of takes over because your body is just drained by day-six; you try to keep it rolling and they did a great job.”


2018 15u BCS National Championship runner-up: Sticks Baseball Academy 2021 Elite



2018 15u BCS National Championship MVP: Dan Merkel



2018 15u BCS National Championship MV-Pitcher: Nathan Knowles
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