CARY, N.C. - Pitching was the name of the game on the fourth day of the 2018 Tournament of Stars at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina.
All four teams got strong starts on the mound but United's Kale Davis (Oklahoma City, Okla.) and Brave's Davis Rokose (Johns Creek, Ga.) ruled the day as they led their teams to victory.
Davis went five strong innings without allowing a run or walk to pace United's 8-2 win over Pride, allowing just two hits and striking out six. In Brave's 6-0 defeat of Free, Rokose gave up only three hits and one walk in four innings of work.
With wins on Thursday, both Brave and United have secured spots in the 2018 Tournament of Stars gold medal game on Saturday, June 23.
BRAVE 6, FREE 0
In the day's first game, Brave clinched its place in the gold medal game by shutting out Free, 6-0, behind Davis' stellar outing.
Free's Jack Leiter (Summit, N.J.) also put together a strong start on the bump to hold off Brave's offense in the first half of the game. He allowed just three hits and no walks, while striking out four in the first four innings.
Brave finally broke through in the bottom of the fifth. With two on and two out, Corbin Carroll (Seattle, Wash.) came up with his first clutch hit of the day to drive in one and give Brave a 1-0 lead. But the team's big blow came in the sixth.
Andre Tarver (Ringgold, Ga.) got a leadoff double to get things started for the squad and it ran away with the momentum, piling on five runs to take a commanding 6-0 lead. Sammy Siani (Glenside, Pa.), Logan Tanner (Lucedale, Miss.), Carroll and Anthony Volpe (Watchung, N.J.) all collected hits in the inning, while Masyn Winn (Kingwood, Texas), Carter Young (Selah, Wash.), Carroll and Volpe tallied RBI.
From the mound, Hunter Barco (Jacksonville, Fla.) and Mac Horvath (Rochester, Minn.) backed up that strong offensive output to close it out and secure the win. Barco tossed four innings, giving up just four hits and one walk, while Horvath pitched a perfect ninth inning.
Nasim Nunez (Lawrenceville, Ga.), who racked up three hits in the game, carried the offense for Free in the game.
UNITED 8, PRIDE 2
United claimed a 8-2 win over Pride in the second game of Thursday's doubleheader with its own strong pitching and explosive late offense.
Davis's dominating performance on the mound set the pace for the game early on but United's offense couldn't break through against Pride starter Josh Hahn (Huntington Beach, Calif.), who tossed three strong innings of his own without giving up a run.
United found its groove in the fourth though. The squad put one run on the board in the top of the fourth before scoring in three of the next five innings to put the game out of reach.
The biggest dent came in the top of the seventh when United scored four runs to take a commanding 6-0 lead.
Dilan Rosario-Otero (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico) led off the inning with a quick single up the middle before he came around to score from first on a Kurtis Bryne (Chesterfield, Mo.) double to right-center. Three more singles and a wild pitch did the rest of the damage in the inning.
Pride worked to put a rally together in the final three innings, scoring once in both the seventh and eighth on a Kyren Paris (Oakley, Calif.) single and a Michael Carpentier (Highland, Calif.) sacrifice fly, respectively. But that was all they would manage as United added two more runs in the ninth to put the game away.
Pete Crow-Armstrong (Sherman Oaks, Calif.) had a day at the plate for United in the win, finishing 3-for-5 with two runs scored and a double, while Paris led Pride's offense, going 2-for-4 with a RBI.
The 2018 Tournament of Stars continues on Friday with an evaluation day at the National Training Complex, followed on Saturday by the third-place game at 9:30 a.m. ET and the gold-medal game at 12:30 p.m. ET on Coleman Field.