CARY, N.C. – Timely doubles by Joshua Burkholder and Will Swisher were the deciding factor in a back-and-forth battle between PRD and Stacked Baseball in which PRD ultimately pulled out the 7-5 victory for the gold medal at the 14U National Team Championships in North Carolina.

With the win, PRD finished the event with a 4-2 and captured its first title at the 14U level and second ever at the National Team Championships after winning it all at the 16U level last month. Stacked Baseball finished the tournament with a 5-1 ledger.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• PRD and Stacked stayed tethered through the first three frames, as Nathaniel Fuller for PRD drove in a run in the first and Aidan Kent for Stacked recorded a game-tying RBI double in the second. RBI base hits by Fuller and Stacked’s Kyle Plasman in the third frame kept the contest locked at 2-2.
• Stacked gained a marginal 3-2 lead in the fourth after a wild pitch allowed Ryder Cielen to easily cross home plate.
• PRD answered in the fifth, beginning with Burkholder’s RBI double to score Brodie Campbell - who drew a leadoff walk - for the tying run. Swisher drove in one of his own with a hot line-drive double to right. Brady Guzzie’s sacrifice bunt capped the scoring and gave PRD a 5-3 lead.
• Another run for PRD was put on the board after Campbell’s bunt couldn’t be handled cleanly by the pitcher in the sixth, and was added onto after a wild pitch brought Campbell around home to score.
• Stacked Baseball rallied in its half of the sixth, as Aiden Scout Escobedo doubled to deep center to trim the deficit by one. Jaxon Olmstead sent a high sacrifice fly in the at-bat immediately after, making it a 7-5 game. Curt Friedrich eventually shut down the rally, punching out a batter for the third out with the bases loaded.

NOTABLE STATS

• Fuller led PRD in hits and RBI’s, as he recorded a 2-for-4 outing with a pair of runs batted in and a stolen bag.
• Burkholder scored a run for PRD and went 1-for-3 with an RBI double in addition to a stolen base. He was also credited with the win after tossing the first 4.0 innings of the game and surrendering three earned runs.
• Friedrich scored two of PRD’s runs and drew two walks.
• Andrew Jimenez tossed 4.0 solid innings for Stacked Baseball, as he struck out five and allowed only two runs to score.
• Escobedo went 1-for-2 and plated one of Stacked’s runs with a stand-up double.
• Tanner Brown also recorded a 1-for-2 performance while collecting a pair of runs scored for Stacked.