3/22/2015 12:12:53 PM
-Fayetteville East High School (Fayetteville, AR) played their first two games of the tournament on Saturday, and did little to shake the claim that they are arguably the top pitching team at the CBNI

-Game 1 vs. Mullen (CO) saw senior right-hander Connor Shaw take the mound, and the win, for the Bulldogs. He was pretty solid throughout his start, working 81-84 with good life to the arm side, advanced fastball command, and maintaining his velocity for the entire game. He's a compact pitcher with an uptempo, athletic, and repeatable delivery who uses the repeatability to consistently pound the bottom of the zone with his fastball. He flashed some quality off speed as well, highlighted by an 11/5 curveball in the 70-73 zone that was a consistent swing and miss offering all game, when commanded. It's not as consistent as the fastball, but certainly shows as a quality 2nd offering in his arsenal. 

-Senior shortstop Drew Tyler had a pretty solid day as well, showcasing the tools that justify his lofty PG ranking and SEC (Arkansas) college commitment. Tyler hits from a slightly open, slightly crouched stance, has strong feel for the barrel, and highlights the swing overall with very fast hands. He knows the zone very well and has a good feel for recognizing off speed pitches. He'll show some extra base pop at present, but the leverage in his swing and consistent ability to barrel the baseball says that he'll end up with more power as he continues to mature physically. He'll stick at SS in college, where his soft hands and clean, easy actions pair extremely well with his range and overall feel for the game. 

-In the 2nd game, a 1-0 extra innings loss to O'Connor HS, seniors Cody Davenport and Andy Pagnozzi combined for 7+ innings of one run baseball, but still took the loss. 

-Cody Davenport was impressive, albeit a bit raw and somewhat inconsistent in terms of command and secondary pitches. He's a well-built, physical prospect who has upside both as a pitcher and a positional player. He employs a well-balanced delivery with good hip rotation, some spine tilt, to an overtop slot (most of the time). He worked 88-90 T 91 early, showing good ability to keep the fastball down and work it to both sides of the plate. He also showed a quality slider with frisbee action, running away from right-handed hitters, though his command of the offering wasn't completely on. Throughout the course of the game he sat in the 85-89 range with slight life to the arm side, and showed the ability to mix his pitches well and never really give opposing hitters a comfortable at bat. He did, however, walk 5 hitters by missing up with his fastball consistently. He was more comfortable throwing the slider to right-handers and his curveball to lefties, which did develop into a pattern as the game moved on. He showed the ability to be very good, and his inconsistencies will be ironed out at the next level. 

-Andy Pagnozzi came on in relief of Davenport, and despite allowing the eventual winning run, he showed why he is ranked so highly by Perfect Game. He's an athletic, well-built prospect with quality mechanics and an advanced feel for pitching. In this game, he worked consistently 87-89, touching 90, and his curveball already shows the makings of eventually being a plus pitch. Thrown in the mid 70's, it has excellent shape and sharp vertical bite, and he shows the ability to throw it for strikes as well as out of the zone as a chase pitch. 

-Despite the combined prowess of Davenport and Pagnozzi, this day belonged to O'Connor HS senior right-hander Zachary Humphrey, who went the distance and picked up the win for the Eagles. He's a tall, slender prospect with a loose arm and some velocity projection remaining. He worked in the high 70's all game long, holding his velocity very well, and he did something that young pitchers so often forget to do: He threw strikes. He just threw tons and tons of strikes. He didn't miss a ton of bats, but in the end the name of the game is missing barrels, not bats. He allowed his defense to work behind him, but really didn't give up many well-struck baseballs. It was an impressive showing in it's simplicity and effectiveness, highlighted by the simple fact that he just threw strikes and kept Fayetteville off balance. 

-Brian Sakowski