By: Cody Smith
Top Tier Reporter
Week #4 in Top Tier Baseball
Top Tier Tournaments Recap: From 15u-18u.
15u Americans, Amateur Baseball Championship
The 15u Americans continued their excellent start to the summer season. Going back to Westfield, Indiana this past weekend the Americans looked to build off their 17-3 overall record. The team finished the weekend with an impressive 7-1 record. Gio Herrera pitched a gem in a 5-0 victory against the NWI Shockers to advance into bracket play. He threw a seven inning complete game while only allowing two hits and zero runs. However, the squad eventually fell during their playoff run. The 15u Americans dropped their game to the Building Champions in the final four. Although the team wasn’t able to finish to weekend as the champions, catcher Justin Cappis had himself a nice weekend. He went 10-16 (.625) with three doubles and a triple. Cappis also managed to drive in 10 RBI’s while imposing a .684 on-base percentage.
15u Nationals, Amateur Baseball Championship
The 15u Nationals tagged along with the 15u Americans to play against of some of the best competition the Midwest has to offer. The 15u Nationals finished the weekend going 3-2-1 while making a run in the silver bracket. After sweeping the silver bracket pool play, the Nationals were a top #16 seed headed into the playoffs. Shortly after however, their weekend came to an end as they lost to Michigan Baseball during the playoffs. Despite coming up short of their main goal, there were some positives to take away from the weekend. For starters, Demarius Mackerl saw the ball well at the plate, hitting .474 to go along with two doubles and a triple while driving in three RBI’s. Catcher, Chris Akers also continued to hit the ball well this past weekend. He went 9-19 (.474) with three extra base hits and three RBI’s. No doubt this team is on the right path and will have a good chance of bringing home some hardware.
15u Nationals-Navy, Amateur Baseball Championship
The 15u Nationals-Navy looked to have a bounce back weekend after the previous performance they had in Ho-Chunk. The team was competitive in 4/5 games while managing to grab two victories in Grand Park. The 15u Nationals-Navy had an unexpected experience on the field, as their opponent Little Cesar’s didn’t show up until close to an hour after they were scheduled to play. This resulted in a forfeit victory for the Nationals-Navy. In two of the three games the Nationals-Navy lost, the team had a chance to either win it or tie it in the later innings of the ball game. Still, even while managing to go sub .500 on the weekend, the team had some nice standout performances by TJ Kutil and Nate Tirone. Kutil hit .300 while getting two doubles and an RBI. On the mound, Nate Tirone pitched a great game in a tough loss as he threw six innings while striking out six.
15u Nationals-White, Amateur Baseball Championship
The 15u Nationals-White looked to finally live up to their true potential playing in Indiana. The team got off to a hot start going 2-1 in pool play giving them a chance to compete in the gold bracket. Matt Rosenberger had a quality outing against the Missouri Talent. The Nationals-White went on to beat the Talent 31-0 in just three innings of play. Rosenberger threw three innings while managing to give up zero runs. The Nationals-White eventually cooled off though as they dropped their two gold bracket pool play games which eliminated them from championship contention. Still, without the performance of Jeremiah Powell its hard to say they would have even gotten in the gold bracket. The catcher from Brother Rice drove in a staggering 10 RBI’s while managing to go 7-13 (.538) with four extra base hits.
15u North, Majestic Prospect Games Tournament
The 15u North had the best weekend of all our Top Tier high school teams this past weekend. The team came out on top as the Majestic Prospect Games tournament champions after finishing the weekend with a perfect 5-0 record. Pitcher Justin Fine got the start in the championship game where he threw a solid five innings while managing to pick up the win against MP Express. Other players that stood out to coach Duffy were Joe Shimamoto and Nicky Giamarusti. Over the course of the entire weekend the two were the most consistent hitters for the 15u North.
16u Americans, Music City Classic Showcase
The 16u Americans went down to Nashville, Tennessee to show off their talents in a highly competitive showcase event where each team got five games to impress scouts from all over the country. The team maximized their opportunities as they went undefeated, going 5-0. Outfielder Brendan Holloway had himself a weekend as he drove in 6 RBI’s while scoring four times. He had a .645 batting average to go along with a .667 on-base percentage and .923 slugging. Kra Player of the week, Chris Seropian also had an amazing weekend both on the bump and at the plate. Seropian pitched a complete game shutout in a 6-0 victory over the Indiana Bulls-Black. Additionally, at the plate he hit .714 with 2 RBI’s and three runs scored. For the 16u Americans it was just another weekend taking care of business as they are now 18-2-2 on the summer.
16u Nationals, Music City Classic Showcase
The 16u Nationals were also down in Nashville this past weekend. They finished the weekend 1-3 with one game getting rained out. The losses this week were tough as two of them were one run defeats. Left handed pitcher Will Dietz got the lone win in his start on the mound against the Rawlings Tigers Orange. He threw 6.2 innings in a 2-1 win over the Tigers. Dietz managed to give up just one run while striking out three. Colin Summerhill wasn’t too shabby either as he went 4-10 with an RBI to help the Nationals on offense this past weekend.
16u Nationals-Navy, Prospect Wood Bat Freedom Classic
The 16u Nationals-Navy were local playing at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. After a slow start, dropping their first two games, the Nationals-Navy bounced back as best they could to position themselves to compete in the playoffs. Zach Starr threw a complete game against Prestige Baseball allowing just one run over seven innings. He followed his great performance on the mound with a clutch RBI single in the bottom of the seventh to give the 16u Nationals-Navy the edge over Prestige Baseball in a 2-1 walk off victory. Following that great pitching performance, pitcher Brock Bevil threw another complete game shutout against Jet Box Baseball in Game 4. Bevil retired 21 of 24 batters faced while letting his defense work as he continually got batters to groundout and hit lazy fly balls. The team finished strong, going 2-2 and sadly missed the playoffs due to their cold start.
17u Americans, WWBA National Championship
The 17u Americans are currently underway in their tournament down South. As of right now the team is 5-1 in Atlanta, Georgia with a chance to move on to bracket play later this week. Stay tuned as this will get updated as things unfold.
17u Nationals, WWBA National Championship
The 17 Nationals joined the 17u Americans to play down in Atlanta, Georgia. The team is currently fighting to stay alive in their respective bracket. Currently, the 17u Nationals are 2-3-1 with more games to follow. Stay tuned as this will get updated when their weekend is complete.
17u Nationals-Navy, Diamond Sports Promotion Nationals Tournament
The 17u Nationals-Navy had high hopes playing in Chicago, IL this past weekend. The team finished the weekend .500 as they were just 2-2 in pool play. The 17u Nationals-Navy brought the bats out against Rhino Baseball, defeating them 10-0. Pitcher, Tyler Preissing had himself a nice weekend on the bump, throwing a six inning shutout while allowing just two hits and striking out six. Although the team wasn't able to advance to bracket play, that didn't stop Adam Gaydos from having a slow weekend. He went 5-10 (.500) including two triples and a home run. Gaydos four RBI weekend and two stolen bases are something coach Heaney will be looking for as they look to get back in bracket play.
18u Americans, Great Lakes Freedom Classic
The 18u Americans had a disappointing weekend as it wasn’t due to their playing ability. The team went to Indianapolis in hopes to compete for the championship. Right handed pitcher and St. Thomas commit, Will Jackson had a nice start on the mound where he threw a complete game shutout on Saturday, but it wasn’t enough. Finishing 3-1 in their pool play, the 18u Americans thought they were headed to the playoffs. Except, they weren’t able to advance even with their impressive record as two teams ahead of them went undefeated in pool play leaving the Americans out to dry. Austin Peay State commit, Mike Carey had a nice weekend however as he went 7-14 (.500) at the plate.
