CARY, N.C. – Power Baseball’s (5-1) pitching staff combined for 7.0 innings, surrendering just three earned runs on seven hits to earn a 4-3 victory over Indiana Bulls Black (3-2-1) and earn bronze at the 17U National Team Championships in North Carolina.

The win marked Power Baseball’s fifth victory of the event as well as its first-ever medal at the National Team Championships. Ty Head led the team in hits and runs batted in throughout the tournament with five and four, respectively, while Ryan Ashford pitched a combined 9.2 innings and collected a staff-leading 10 strikeouts.

With the result, Indiana Bulls Black finishes fourth at the event.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Indiana Bulls began the scoring in the first inning with a pair of runs. Back-to-back singles from Ahmaad Duff and Chris Klug brought the first run of the game across, and then a single from Jayce Lee that scored Christian Klug doubled the team’s lead to 2-0.
• In the bottom of the first, Power Baseball cut the deficit in half thanks to a Brodie Johnston sacrifice fly to left that scored Talan Bell.
• The game was knotted up in the second on an error that allowed Michael Kalinich to cross the plate, but it was the back-to-back doubles from Thomas Bly and Evan Taveras that gave Power Baseball the 4-2 in the fourth. 
• One more insurance run came on a wild pitch in the fifth, allowing Taveras to cross home plate.

NOTABLE STATS

• Bell, Bly, and Taveras each went 1-for-3 and Kalinich went 1-for-2, all of them combining to score the four runs for Power Baseball.
• Klug went 2-for-4 with one RBI and two runs scored and Thomas Lynch went 2-for-3, each being the only two players with muti-hit performances.
• Kaiden Lopez went 5.0 innings with eight strikeouts while giving up three earned runs to pick up the win. The Power Baseball staff fanned a combined 11 batters in the contest.
• Simon Wilkinson took the loss while giving up four runs (two earned) on three hits.