CARY, N.C. – The 14U National Team Championships North Carolina came to a close on Sunday as the semifinals and gold medal game had to be canceled due to inclement weather. Based on final seeding from the week, 5 Star National was awarded the gold medal. MVP Hustle was awarded the silver medal while the Cangelosi Sparks took home bronze.
5 Star National finished the week with a 5-0 record, outscoring opponents 43-5. The team opened up with an impressive 4-0 win on Wednesday over the South Charlotte Panthers as Emery Coleman tossed the complete game shutout while collecting six strikeouts.
With a doubleheader on Thursday, the team’s bats came alive as they picked up 8-0 and 12-3 wins over the Dulins Dodgers and MVP Hustle, respectively. In the game against MVP Hustle, seven 5 Star National players collected RBIs, led by Jacob Kendall who went 3-for-3 at the plate and drove in four runs.
In the team’s 11-2 win over Texas Twelve on Friday to claim the one seed in bracket play, Randy Ruiz, Jackson Roper, and Luke Pappano all had multi-RBI performances. The team then followed with a convincing 8-0 victory over the Scottsdale Dirtbags to advance to the semifinals.
Kelvyn Paulino Jr. had a multi-hit game and led the way at the plate all week for 5 Star, hitting .556 (9-for-15) with six RBIs. Kendall had a team-high nine RBIs in five games. Coleman, Pappano, and Dillon Askew all had shutout performances on the mound en route to the team’s gold medal.
MVP Hustle finished the week 4-1 to earn the silver medal, and the team’s lone loss of the tournament came to the eventual champions. MVP Hustle responded to the loss with a 4-3 walk-off win over the East Cobb Astros in seeded pool play. Brandon Gomez drove in Tomas Cernius on a double into center to win it. Cernius batted a team-high .571 (8-for-14) during the week with a triple and four RBIs to lead the team offensively.
In its quarterfinal game, MVP Hustle got an outstanding performance on the mound from Gavin Flores, who tossed a one-hit complete game shutout. Flores was the team’s best pitcher during the tournament, also appearing in one relief outing and finishing the week with a 0.88 ERA.
The Cangelosi Sparks collected the bronze medal for the tournament. With a 3-2 tournament record, they advanced to the semifinals after a tight 3-2 victory over Knights Knation National on Saturday. Ethan Moore finished the tournament with a team-high batting average of .714 (5-for-7) while also drawing three walks and scoring four runs. The team pitched by committee with ten different players stepping on the mound for the Sparks, combining for a 3.78 team ERA.
The National Team Championships North Carolina will continue with the 17U age group from June 22-25 at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina. To stay up to date on all the action, follow @USABaseball and @USABChamps_NC on Twitter
