EMERSON, Ga. – An exciting day of playoff games kicked off at Lakepoint this afternoon as teams battle to be crowned champions of the WWBA Freshman World Championship. Many games came down to the last pitch and the most exciting game thus far was the Richmond Braves’ thrilling walk-off win in extra innings against Team Elite Prime.
The first round of 16 game that went on during the noon timeslot was FTB Select defeating Rawlings Arkansas Prospects by a score of 7-3. Starting pitcher Joshua Allen pitched a gem for FTB and bounced back after allowing three early runs to finish off the rest of the game. Jacob Starling led the way offensively as he was a catalyst in the leadoff spot going 2-4 with two runs scored and one RBI. The FTB offense took advantage of some suspect defense from Rawlings as four errors helped FTB to seal the victory.
The bats were alive for the Evoshield Canes Black as they scored thirteen runs on twelve hits to crush Knights Baseball Platinum 13-2. The third inning was where the Canes did most of their damage as they scored eight runs in the frame and decidedly put the game out of reach. There were many contributors on offense as four starters had at least two hits in the game and six starters had at least one RBI. The pitching staff was not very taxed as the strategy late in the game was to save some pitching for later in the playoffs.
Banditos Elite has a walkoff win of their own with a 3-1 defeat of the East Coast Sox Elite. The story of the game was star pitcher Nicholas Regaldo for the Banditos. Sitting in the mid-80s all day, the righthander allowed just one run to score in 5 1/3 innings of work while striking out five. Heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, the Banditos had just two hits in the game. Regaldo stepped up with runners on first and second and absolutely crushed a no-doubt homerun to deep left for the walkoff bomb. The shot traveled an estimated 376 feet with an exit velocity of 91 mph per TrackMan Baseball.
The Braves 5-4 victory over Team Elite was a back and forth game the entire way. The Braves jumped out to an early 3-0 victory after combining some timely hits with some opposing errors. From there starting pitcher Jake Berry, the No. 1 lefthanded pitcher in the state of Virginia for the class of 2020, was in cruise control. Berry, who stands at a tall and lean 6-foot-7, was able to stifle Team Elite for three innings keeping them guessing at the plate by pounding the zone with the fastball and freezing them with his curveball.
Team Elite broke through for two runs in the top of the fourth inning and threatened to score again in the sixth inning. Austin Hendrick, the No. 20 overall player for the class of 2020, was smoking the baseball all game long and his third 90-plus mph hit of the day was a game-tying triple in the sixth. Hendrick would come around to score on a single later in the inning and Team Elite kept their 4-3 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh inning.
“The first three innings were working well and then I got tired in the fourth and stopped losing my legs,” said Berry. “I came back and pitched well in the fifth.”
The first two batters of the inning were retired rather quickly and the Braves were staring elimination in the face with two outs and no one on. A hit-by-pitch to the next batter would spark the rally. After that a two-strike single put runners on first and second. Dawson Guzik came through with a bloop single to centerfield to tie the game at four and we were headed to extras.
For extra-innings this early in the tournament, the bases are loaded with one out to start the inning. Manager Eddie Jones put his team in the perfect defensive alignment to get out of the inning on the first pitch: a 5-2-3 double play.
“I wanted the corners in and the middle to turn the double play,” said Jones. “We got a chopper to third, he fired home and the catcher held tight and made a strike to first. Beautiful, it was beautiful baseball.”
The bottom of the eight started the same way, with bases loaded and one out, and Berry was the first batter up. After a few pitches Berry chased a high fastball for the second out of the inning.
The pressure was on for Ryland Brown as he stepped up with the chance to be the hero. The first pitch he saw was an 85 mph fastball at eye level that he swung through. Jones then called time and went over to his batter to calm him down and help him focus.
“He told me that I’m not up there to be swinging at everything,” said Brown. “He reassured me and I was able to wait for my pitch and not swing at the pitcher’s pitch.”
The next four pitches of the at-bat were out of the strike zone and Brown had worked the clinching RBI walk. The dugout erupted and mobbed Brown at first base to celebrate.
“It was nervous at first,” said Brown. “I was swinging at everything and then coach calmed me down. I took all the pitches and worked a walk.”
The Braves showed a lot of competitive fire and determination with their win today. Jones praised his team’s ability to compete and willingness to never give up.
“I just told them to keep competing. All tournament we’ve had to come back in the bottom of the sixth to win those games. I knew that we had it in us to win those games but we just had to come back and keep competing. We knew they had a great team over there, definitely a tournament favorite, and I knew they were going to fight back which they did. We held tight, didn’t panic, and we came through at the end.”
Throughout the summer and fall this team has been preparing for the Freshman World Championship. Jones mentioned how this team has played up for a lot of the summer and had really focused on coming together as a group and expected to win the entire tournament.
“They are definitely tough-minded and we felt like we prepared them leading up to this tournament,” said Jones. “Our guys come from a couple of different teams in our organization and we knew we were going to bring down a solid team. The schedule that these guys played in the summer and fall, playing up against older guys, definitely prepared them against a team like Team Elite.”
The challenge facing Jones and the Braves will be channeling their jubilation and momentum and carrying it into next game. The quarterfinals await the Braves, and this win proved they will certainly be ready.
“We have to keep competing, it’s one game at a time,” said Jones. “They know that it is winner goes on and loser goes home. We’re going to fight one game at a time, one inning at a time, one pitch at a time. I think they’ll be ready to go. They’re hungry, we came down here ready to be in this position and they put themselves in this position.”