CARY, N.C. – Canes National/NY Mets Scout Team, Elite Squad, Indiana Bulls National, and Texas Twelve advanced to Friday’s 2022 17U National Team Championships North Carolina semifinals after winning their quarterfinal games on Thursday.
Indiana Bulls National 5, Canes Prospects 1
Indiana Bulls National cemented its name as the first semifinalist on Thursday, securing a 5-1 win over Canes Prospects. Indiana showed patience in the first, drawing three straight walks to load the bases and scoring its first runs of the game on a hit-by-pitch and wild pitch.
Canes Prospects got on the board the second on a hit-by-pitch after a pair of walks and base hit loaded the bases, but Indiana Bulls National answered in the bottom frame when Alex Naylor led off the second with a single, swiped second, and scored on Lucas Moore’s RBI single.
Moore came through again in the third when he laced a 2-RBI single up the middle to cushion the lead to 5-1.
Indiana Bulls National starter Parker Detmers went three complete innings and allowed just one earned run on two hits and tallied three strikeouts, then gave way to Christian Pownall who tossed four shutout innings while fanning five batters to pick up the win.
Naylor led the Bulls offensively, going 3-for-3 with two runs scored, while Moore tallied three runs batted in to mark a single-game tournament high for the leadoff hitter.
Canes Nationals / NY Mets Scout Team 4, East Cobb Astros 0
Cal Randall was a man on a mission from the mound for Canes National/NY Mets Scout Team to help his team defeat East Cobb Astros, 4-0. Randall tossed a complete-game shutout, surrendering three hits and striking out six batters across seven innings.
Canes National/NY Mets Scout Team jumped out early to a 3-0 lead in the first. With bases loaded, Roch Cholowsky drove in the first run on an RBI single and Campbell Smithwick scored on a fielding error by the Astros. Zach Wadas capped off the inning with an RBI single through the left side to drive in Trent Caraway.
Caraway tacked on its final run of the contest in the fourth inning for Canes National/NY Mets Scout Team via a sacrifice fly after a pair of singles and a walk had the bases juiced.
Canes National/NY Mets Scout Team collected 10 hits with Kevin McGonigle showing out as he had 3-for-4 performance at the plate to lead his team to the semis.
Elite Squad 11, USA Prime National 2
The Elite Squad bats got off to a strong start, scoring seven runs on two hits and six walks in the first.
Antonio Anderson and Dillon Head tried to put some life into their team’s offense, each blasting a solo shot to the right side of the diamond in the first and third innings, but those runs proved to be the only ones of the game for USA Prim National.
The Elite Squad’s lead to was too much to overcome and starter Brixton Lofgren hurled five complete innings with five strikeouts to help his squad earn a semifinal berth. At the plate, George Lombard and Jordan Perez collected two hits and two RBIs each to pace the offense.
Texas Twelve 4, Dirtbags 2
Texas Twelve earned the final spot into the semifinals with a gritty 4-2 victory over the Dirtbags.
Jackson Brasseux was a force to be reckoned with on the bump for Texas Twelve, taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning after his team scored three in the first on a pair of run-scoring singles and wild pitch.
With the Dirtbags loading the bases, Bristol Carter welcomed reliever Ethan Coronel to the game with a 2-RBI single to narrow the deficit to 4-2. Texas Twelve then turned to Blake Mitchell and he struck out the next two batters to halt the threat.
Dirtbags’ Samuel Stafura led off with a single in the seventh to start the attempted rally, but Mitchell responded with a strikeout and induced a game-ending a double play to earn the save.
Kendall George paced the Texas Twelve offensively with a 2-for-3 day, while Brasseux’s final line was 5.1 innings with seven strikeouts and two earned runs.
With the semifinal matchups set, Elite Squad will play Texas Twelve at 8:00 a.m. on Friday, June 17, while first pitch between Canes National/NY Mets Scout Team and Indiana Bulls National is set for 8:15 a.m. The gold medal game will follow on the USA Baseball National Training Complex’s Coleman Field at 10:45 a.m. and can be streamed live on USA Baseball TV.
