EMERSON, Ga. - The eXposure 14u Prime edged the Tennessee Nationals by a score of 3-2 to advance to the next round of the playoffs at the 14u WWBA Memorial Day Tournament at LakePoint.
The playoffs feature the best teams from the tournament and offer an intense atmosphere with the win or go home stakes. The game on Sunday night between these two teams was no exception.
“The crowd was really good, the intensity was really good, all the players seemed up,” Chase Roberts said. “We brought intensity from the first inning.”
The Chattanooga-based eXposure Prime thrived under pressure, making key plays in a close game. The Nationals were threatening with two on and no outs in the bottom of the fourth inning, when shortstop Irvin Hernandez froze the runners on a hard hit liner, let it fall, and then proceeded to tag second base and then the runner at second.
“[I’ve seen] a lot of awareness about playing in big games, close games against quality competition,” said Steve Garland, the head coach of eXposure. “You can tell they’ve been on the big stage before.”
The team has trailed at some point in every game that they have played in the tournament so far, but have found a way to stick to their game and pull ahead.
“We’ve come from behind in every game,” said Garland. “We’ve won four games, and have trailed in all four. That says something about their heart, about their confidence, about their competitiveness.”
Garland said that many of the players have been together for a few years now, and have gained experience playing in Perfect Game tournaments just like this one. Left fielder Chase Roberts backed that up, citing a reason for their calm team demeanor under pressure.
“We’ve been playing big games since we were in 12u,” Roberts said.
Garland, who coaches at East Hamilton High School in Chattanooga, TN, said that this team plays well beyond their years in big games, even when they are behind.
“They don’t act 14,” Garland said. “They seem more mature as far as their ability to overcome.”
The team showed that maturity by going 3-0 in pool G, outscoring their opponents 26 to 13, while scoring nine or more runs in two games. They began the tournament with a solid pitching performance from Will Grimmett against the Game On Prospects. Grimmett went 5 1/3 innings, giving up one earned run and striking out six, while the offense set the tone for the rest of the tournament by scoring 13 runs.
The pitching displayed its best outing of the tournament in the first game of the playoffs against the Nationals, with starter Riley Black going six innings, giving up two runs and striking out three batters to pick up the win in the playoff game.
“He threw three pitches for strikes. He was able to keep the ball down and away, and he competed,” Garland said.
Black was up against a tough Nationals lineup that had scored 23 runs over its previous three games, but he was able to scatter just six hits and one walk. He kept hitters off balance all night by working in his changeup off the fastball.
“Mainly my fastball was working. My curveball wasn’t doing so well, but I got some guys out on the changeup as well, so it was good,” Black said.
Black was matched pitch-for-pitch by Nationals starter Elijah Gaylon, who went seven innings, giving up three earned runs. Black, Cooper Kinney and Jake Poindexter led eXposure offensively, each picking up an RBI in the game. Roberts went 1-for-3 with a run scored, and said that keeping it simple was the key against the Nationals starter.
“My mindset was to just let the ball get deep, try to be calm with my lower half and just take the ball to the opposite field,” Roberts said.
Garland believed that this win and the team’s performance has meant a lot to the organization, which only began a few years ago.
“eXposure baseball is relatively new on the scene. This is our third year, and Brandon Turner, our owner, has really built this thing into a formidable organization in a short period of time,” Garland said.
Black offered his mindset for the team moving forward.
“Our mindset would be to keep playing hard and trust our team, and to keep hitting the way we are.”
The team will look to make a deep run in the playoffs, and will continue that journey on Monday, May 8 at 10:15 a.m. against the Louisiana Tigers, who took down the No. 1 seed, Team Halo, by a score of 7-2.