EMERSON, Ga. – For many fathers, this day is a day to kick back and relax on the couch; but for the proud fathers of participants in the 2015 14u WWBA National Championship, it is a day to watch their son play baseball. What better present could a Dad receive on this day than to watch his son play well and win some ball games?

With playoffs soon approaching in this year’s National Championship, players set foot on the field today with a sense of urgency.

Team Elite Prime came into this tournament with one of the most stacked rosters out of all participating teams. In fact, a few players on their team have been tagged as high follow and top 1,000 prospects, so the expectations are high for this team. The talent has served them well thus far, considering that they have won every game they have played in this tournament. They sit atop the standings for Pool E, and Sunday morning they escaped with a 2-1 win against the only team in their pool that had a chance at challenging them for their top spot.

Their bout with the Dulin Dodgers required the best effort of two different pitchers and a clutch twp-hit performance by Peyton Lejeune. Team Elite Prime would hand the ball to Chance Burns in game 4 against the Homeplate Chili Dogs. The Chili Dogs have only one win so far, but they were a prime candidate to upset the talented Team Elite Prime.

Team Elite Prime has a swagger that not many other teams exude. Their mannerisms collectively as a team reflect their experience in these big national tournaments, as they never seem to lose their cool in any situation. Every player maintains a calm emotional balance throughout the game, and every move they make on the field is calculated, yet smooth. Not to mention, these kids have some size on them for being only 14; they have 7-9 players that are 6-feet tall or over.

The Homeplate Chili Dogs did not seem to be intimidated by Team Elite, and they fought valiantly in an attempt to give them their first loss, but they would have no such luck.

The game started with Homeplate getting two runners on against Chance Burns, but he would get out of it unscathed, and that would be the theme of Burns’ start. This Elite Prime team is always looking to catch you off guard and take the extra base, and they showed that they weren’t afraid to take risks when they stole third in the second inning and got into a pickle. Elite Prime did look a little sloppy on the basepaths today, but they cleaned it up as the game progressed.

Offense was at a premium early in this game, and in the third inning, Elite Prime would capitalize off of two walks. With runners on second and third base, shortstop Rece Hinds stepped up to the plate and delivered a line drive that would score both runners, and Elite would take the lead 2-0.

The game remained close until the fifth inning, when Hinds would help knock in yet another run. This run really deflated the Chili Dogs, and it showed the very next inning when Prime tore the game wide open with another four runs to make the final score 7-0.

It’s only fitting that the game ended with Rece Hinds completing a 4-6-3 double play, as he had a huge impact in this afternoon’s win. Hinds was the spark that ignited the offense for Team Elite Prime in this game, and he was excited to see his team follow his lead and produce a little offense in that last inning.

“I’ve been struggling for the first few games, so I was just thinking 'sit back and try to hit it to right field',” Hinds said. “I knew it was going to be a hot day, but nothing was going to stop us from trying to get the win.

“In this game we came out a little sluggish and I think we didn’t expect this team to put up the fight they did in the beginning, but eventually we found out that we would have to come out and fight like every game. I like our chances heading into playoffs. If we keep up pitching and defense, we’ll be set.”

Hinds’ outstanding performance at the plate was important for Team Elite Prime in this game, but Burns was the one that kept the Chili Dog hitters in check throughout the game. The Chili Dogs had their fair share of chances to get back into this game, but Burns’ resilience on the mound prevented them from bringing a single runner across home plate. Burns has an over-the-top motion, with great downward plane and arm-side run on his fastball. He bewildered Homeplate’s hitters all afternoon, and went 6 1/3 innings strong, with four strikeouts. Burns also made a difference at the plate with a base hit in the sixth inning that started a four-run rally for Team Elite.

“My fastball was great today,” said Burns. “I was locating it pretty good. In the bullpen, I was trying to get my changeup working, hoping that it would run in on right handed batters. Whenever I got in jams with runners on, I was trying to get groundball outs and just keep it out of their wheelhouse.”

Head Coach Jon Brewer thinks this group is special, and applauds the way they performed today. He chalks up a lot of their success to team chemistry and preparation. This year’s 14u WWBA National Championship will probably call for a little bit more than chemistry and preparation if Team Elite Prime wants to win it all, but they are certainly on the right track and are poised to make a legitimate run at the championship trophy.

“We definitely have some personalities on this team,” said Coach Brewer. “The manager of this team, Brook Richards, has done a great job of getting local kids and kids from across the country. The chemistry is hard to find; they spend a lot of time together. The first win of the day against the Dulin Dodgers called for some big hits, and they played us super close all game. We were fortunate to get a run in the last inning to win us the game.

“I’m real excited with what we did today, but I think we need to swing the bats better. Our defense and pitching is there, but we haven’t swung it as well as I think we’re capable of doing. I feel like we prepare as well, if not better, than any other team in the country and that plays a big role in tournaments like these. We’ll be disappointed if we don’t win it all.”