CARY, N.C. - ZT Prospects National used a four-run fifth inning to pull away from Braves Baseball Academy en route to a 6-1 win in the 2021 10U Futures Invitational gold medal game.

With the win, the club finished the week 5-0 and secured the championship on a rainy Sunday morning at Thomas Brooks Park in Cary, North Carolina.

The biggest blow in the game came when Eli Martinez smoked a bases-clearing three-run double to put distance between his ZT Prospects team and the Braves. The hit gave the ZT Prospects a 6-1 advantage, and they held on in a steady rain to clinch the win.

The hit by Martinez turned a tight game into a comfortable lead by the ZT Prospects. After holding on to a 2-1 lead for much of the game, Martinez busted the game open to give the club insurance runs and the squad never looked back. Martinez’s three RBIs led the ZT Prospects offensive output. Elijah Romero, the only player in the game with two hits, added two RBIs.

Ivan Ortiz started for ZT National, tossing three innings and striking out three. Caleb Lozano pitched the final three innings, allowing an unearned run with three strikeouts. Mateo Mier pitched four innings for the Braves, scattering two hits and two runs while striking out three.

Key Moments

• ZT Prospects opened the scoring on a two-run, inside-the-park homer by Reyes in the third. Caleb Lozano, who reached earlier in the inning on a single, scored on the hit.
• The Braves cut the deficit in half when Alex Scott hit a hard ground ball to shortstop, scoring Jake Nuño to make the score 2-1 in the fifth.
• ZT Prospects answered in the bottom frame, starting with a Mason Smith RBI single to make it 3-1.
• With the bases loaded and one out, Martinez ripped a double into the gap to score all three runners and bust the game open.

 Notable Information

• Ortiz earned the win, pitching for the second time in the tournament. In two games, he pitched five total innings and allowed just one hit.
• Martinez had at least one hit in all five games of the tournament, finishing the weekend batting .615. He drove in 11 runs over the five games.
• Nicholas Nava led the Braves with a .455 batting average on the weekend.

Quotable

• “I took the first pitch to get my timing right. My approach was ‘swing at a fastball anywhere near’ and I got a fastball up and I just hit it.” – Eli Martinez on his three-run double
• “Eli has been hot all tournament. He got a pitch that he could handle and laced it into the gap. We had some speed guys on and were able to clear the bases and that carried us.” – Rick Martinez

Social Media

• Stay tuned to @USABEvents on Twitter and visit USABaseball.com for information regarding the upcoming 11U Futures Invitational, which begins on June 24.