With 16 teams jockeying for playoff positions on the second day of the 14U National Team Championships in Cary, North Carolina on Friday, there was plenty of hard-fought, back-and-forth baseball played at the USA Baseball National Training Complex.
Leading the bunch at 3-0-0 is UDACF Evolution, which rolled to a 10-0 win over the Dirtbags in four innings on Friday afternoon. Max Boehm and Siale Talua led the way with two hits apiece, with Talua and Terrell Otis both delivering a pair of RBIs home. Steven Garneau Jr. and Maksim Neshov combined to hold the Dirtbags to a pair of hits, pitching two innings each in the win.
Team Elite, now 2-0-1, again got terrific performances at the plate from Owen Burnes and Hudson Burnett. Burnes has posted two hits in all three games so far, while Burnett has five. Ryder Baldwin provided a big offensive spark in the team’s 9-9 tie with USA Prime National in the morning with 2-for-3, three RBI statline, while Zach Koons helped power the 7-6 afternoon win over PRD with two hits for an RBI and a run.
USA Prime National sits right behind Team Elite on the leaderboard, with neither side able to edge each other out in the 9-9 matchup on Friday morning. USA Prime rolled to an 8-3 win over Top Tier Select in the squad’s second game of the day, with several hitters having breakthrough performances.
Six USA Prime players tallied a pair of hits in the barnburner against Team Elite, with Joshua Messer driving in three RBIs and scoring a pair of runs. After going 2-for-4 against Team Elite, Jaaron Frye was a perfect 4-for-4 against Top Tier Select while Cruz Chavez followed a 2-for-2 morning with a 3-for-3 mark and 2 RBIs. Jake Welch also slashed a pair of hits in the win over Top Tier, scoring twice and driving in an RBI of his own. Reaching another gear after a tight 4-3 opening over PRD, USA Prime’s offense has the potential to do serious damage in postseason play.
The Texas Twelve Red Sox also remained undefeated on Friday, tying 3-3 with the South Charlotte Panthers Marucci in the morning before downing the previously undefeated Midland Redskins 7-1 later on. Brandon Pace Jr. was electric against the Panthers with nine strikeouts and four hits in 6.1 innings, while Keagan Fosdick went the distance against Midland with four punchouts and another four hits allowed in seven innings. The pitching staff has been a major factor for a Texas Twelve squad that enters the postseason having allowed just five runs in three games.
Another pitching staff worth paying attention to is that of SBA Bolts National, which has taken much more of a committee approach on the bump but found the same success. The Bolts took care of business on Friday, moving to 2-1 after four different pitchers combined for nine strikeouts and six hits in a 5-3 win over Alpha Prime. It was the second straight game that the Bolts have used at least three pitchers and totaled nine or more punchouts.
SBA’s offense has also flashed intriguing potential. While quiet on Friday, Aiden Kearney went 5-for-6 on Thursday and Luke Esquivel posted three hits in the team’s 6-5 loss to Wow Factor National.
Canes National and the South Charlotte Panthers put on a fireworks display in the second slate of games on Friday, as Canes National won its first game of the week by a final score of 11-7. DJ Ford and Porter Anglin powered the winning side, as Ford finished with two hits for three RBIs and a pair of runs scored and Anglin scored three times on a pair of hits himself. Jacob Seamon had the best outing of any player in the loss, scoring twice and driving in four RBIs for the Panthers on two hits.
Anchor Bat picked up its first win of the week, stunning previously undefeated Wow Factor National 8-4 after scoring just three total runs in the opening two games. Four players for Anchor Bat connected for a pair of hits at the plate, with the trio of Jacob Ballew, Jamison Kimbrell, and Nolen Oglesby all both scoring and tallying an RBI in the win.
