 The 2017 U.S. Club Nationals was filled with some of the top 9u–14u players in the country. Twelve players were selected to the All-American team with two players representing each age division. In addition, 12 players were selected from each age group to form the All-Tournament teams.  9u All-Tournament Team
6–4–3 DP: Seth Geter 6–4–3 DP: Isander Poventud Central Alabama: James Crocker Central Alabama: Weston Brock East Cobb Astros: Trey Luke East Cobb Astros: Cole Dennis East Cobb Astros: Jared James East Cobb Colt 45s: Hunter Reese Evoshield: Jennings Dunlap Five Star Tigers–Hannah: Brady Shelton Five Star Tigers–Labbe: Trentin Baskin Five Star Tigers–Labbe: Andrew Richmond 10u All-Tournament Team 6–4–3 DP: Carson Vick Central Alabama: Torrey (TJ) Hambrick Jr Dallas Patriots: Jake Hopkins East Cobb Astros: Jackson Taylor East Cobb Astros: Ethan Murray Evoshield Canes: John Lupienski IV Fieldhouse Pirates: Owen Gowland Five Star Tigers: Dayson Griffis Five Star Tigers: Jacob Kendall Mound Time: Isaac Pfeier Slammers: Camdyn Magill Tidewater Drillers: Nicholas Morlang 11u All-Tournament Team 6–4–3 DP: Pierce Juhan Central Alabama: Cooper Jarvis Central Alabama: Erik Oxford East Cobb–Colt 45s: Avery Shiflett East Cobb–Colt 45s: Bennie Bartolero Evoshield Canes: Brayden Stout Fieldhouse Pirates: Steven Waters Fieldhouse Pirates: Ryan McDonagh Five Star Tigers–DeMarini: Chase Fralick Five Star Tigers–DeMarini: Brooks Baker Five Star Tigers–Stewart: Connor Grogg Georgia Bombers: Nick Lanning South Bay Surf: Austin Lee 12u All-Tournament Team 6–4–3 DP: Caleb Carpenter Central Alabama: Titan (Ty) Harrell Central Alabama: Heath Griffin Dallas Patriots: Edmondson Isaac Dallas Tigers: Minjum (MJ) Seo Dallas Tigers: Aidan Esquivel Foley East Cobb Astros: Neal Fieldhouse Pirates: Colby Ariss Georgia Bombers: Cason Engert Mound Time: Thomas Ferroggiaro Slammers: Jack Novak South Bay Surf: Jillian Alabayati 13u All-Tournament Team 6–4–3 DP: Dawson Campbell Dallas Patriots: Joshua Lanum Dallas Tigers: Jayson Jones East Cobb Astros: William Mosley Evoshield: Drew Spencer Fieldhouse: Nathaniel Ochoa Georgia Bombers: Cody McGill Mound Time: Jacobi Allen Slammers–Asnicar: Nicolas Yard Slammers–Holzemer: Blake Young South Bay Surf: Jamie Robertson Tidewater Drillers: Collin Schmitt 14u All-Tournament Team 6–4–3 DP: Thomas Rollauer 6–4–3 DP: Drewbie Pinkston Central Alabama: JP Brasfield Dallas PatriotsCarson Shepherd Dallas TigersJordan Lawlar East CobbNathan Smith EvoshieldTyler Christmas FieldhouseOwen Caissie Five StarJackson Mayo Georgia BombersRiley Stanford Mound TimeHumberto Soto Mound TimeTrent Walker TidewaterAvery Byrum Tags: Baseball, Triple Crown Baseball, US Club Nationals  On the strength of stellar defensive plays and a seven-run sixth inning, the Dallas Tigers rallied to defeat the East Cobb Astros 12-7 in the championship game of the 13u division of the Triple Crown U.S. Club Nationals.
“We just wanted to get to this game to give us the opportunity at a championship,” said Tigers head coach Chad Polk. “But at the end of the day, this team just has grit, heart, and hustle. You can’t coach that stuff. It’s just a collection of personalities that brings out this grit and fight.” Down 7-5 entering the bottom of the sixth, the Tigers rallied with two out in the inning to plate seven runs. With the bases loaded, a hit by pitch forced in a run to make it 7-6. After a walk to Jacob Devenny tied the score, the Astros went to the bullpen. The pitching change didn’t work as back-to-back hit batters forced in two runs to make it 9-7. John Calvin Davis’ fly ball to right was then dropped, allowing two runs to score to give the Tigers an 11-7 lead. Another single would cap the scoring for the Tigers to give Dallas a 12-7 lead. “We hit some balls hard,” coach Polk said. “Yeah, they walked a few guys, but we capitalized, and that’s part of the game. The important thing is, when we drew those walks because we didn’t swing at bad pitches, then we capitalized on a few key hits and it was all with two outs.” In the seventh, the Astros would get runners on first and second, but Joshua Hoover would induce a line out for a double play to clinch the championship. After 77 games over the course of the spring and summer, the Tigers were able to end the season with a dog pile on the field and a championship in hand. “I’ve never done this before, so to be able to do that was awesome,” Hoover said. “We have a great defense, and I really felt like if they put the ball in play, our defense would make the plays behind me.” The two teams met in bracket play previously with the Tigers winning 20-4, but the Astros were determined to prove that game as an anomaly. The Tigers took the lead with four runs in the bottom of the first, but the Astros got a leadoff triple by Treylen White in the second that led to a run to make it 4-1. The Tigers used heads-up base running by Josh Livingston to make it 5-1 in the third, as on a potential double play ball, Livingston rounded third and never stopped running as the throw to first to get the batter was late, making it 5-1. In the fourth, the Astros knotted the score with four runs, but a diving catch at first by Jared Thomas with the bases loaded kept the score tied. White continued to do his part to try to give the Astros the championship as his double down the line in left scored the go-ahead run to give the Astros a 6-5 lead. In the sixth, Caleb Bergman made a sliding catch in right-center to keep the leadoff man off base for the Astros to begin the inning. “I saw it well off the bat,” Bergman said. “I knew that I would have to bust it to get over and make the catch. I just wanted to help my pitcher out a lot and make him only have to get two more outs instead of having to get three.” Still, the Astros would use a double-steal with two men out in the sixth inning to add an insurance run, making it 7-5. That set the stage for the rally in the bottom of the frame. Coach Polk feels that the championship will resonate with his team for years to come. "They’ve been here,” he said. “When all these kids on the roster walk into high school as a freshman, all these kids are going to expect to compete for a starting spot on varsity. If they’re lucky enough to play college baseball, they’re going in expecting to compete for a spot. They’ve been in big pressure situations, and I’ve never seen them back down from anybody.” Tags: Baseball, Triple Crown Baseball, Triple Crown Sports, US Club Nationals  After booting a few balls around and letting their opponents stay very much in contention, the East Cobb Astros 12u squad wanted, as a point of pride, to truly show the depth of their abilities Saturday in the championship game of the US Club Nationals.
A sharpened focus and some wicked work with the bats made everything right in Atlanta as the Astros cruised to a 16-4 victory over 6-4-3 DP Athletics, earning the 12u crown and winning all six games it took to make the journey. They outscored opponents by a 68-17 margin and finished off the finale with a 10-run burst in the fourth inning. “With a bunch of 12-year-olds … 6-4-3 played a game earlier today, so they in the mode and ready to play. It was our first game of the day, and we are working out some kinks and have guys in areas they aren’t quite familiar with,” said Astros coach Dalton Martin, who team allowed the Athletics to tie it a 2-all after errors in the first and second innings. “6-4-3 can swing it, but we cleaned up the errors, and all season offensively we’ve been able to hit the baseball. All year, we’ve played in some good tournaments with good competition, and when you win games 10-1 and like this game, we took care of business. “At this age, it’s all about offense and throwing strikes, letting your defense play. They will make errors, they are 12, but we’ll pick them up with our bats.” Brady Neal hit for the cycle for the Astros, bombing a two-run homer in the second inning and closing the show with a bases-loaded triple in the fourth. He drove in the game’s first run with a double to bring home Jackson Westmoreland. “We’ve been hitting good this tournament, crushing the ball off the wall. From one through 12, we get hits, and it’s a team effort,” Neal said. “We’re a really good team, not one to just play around with. We’ll come out and beat you.” Carson Kerse did nice work in the leadoff spot, notching two hits, two runs and two RBI. Kyle Jones’ two-run double made it 10-4 in the fourth inning, and that was the shot that felt like the crowning blow for the Astros. Cam Curtis added a run-scoring double in the second; he also scored twice. Westmoreland scored three runs and added an RBI. “I was just looking to get a hit and get some runs home,” Neal said about his double. “When that happened I was really happy, because I haven’t been doing as good as I can in this tournament … that was really exciting. We can beat any team if we put our minds on it, and don’t ever count us out. We wanted this really bad, and responded to those (early errors), which was good to see.” For the Athletics, Kent Collier had a double, run and RBI; Evan Warren had a double and scored a run. Collin Strovinskas also hit a double. Tags: Baseball, Triple Crown Baseball, Triple Crown Sports, US Club Nationals  Looking to complete an undefeated tournament, Five Star Tigers-DeMarini (FL) slowly built up a lead and never looked back, defeating 6-4-3 DP (GA) 8-1 in the championship game of the 11u division of the Triple Crown U.S. Club Nationals.
The win gave the Tigers a 7-0 mark in the division, with four wins in pool play and three wins in the bracket. "We knew we all had to do our job,” said Jace Glisson, who drove in three runs in the contest. “If we went in trying to win every inning, we knew we’d win games.” The win in the division gives the Five Star Tigers 50 points toward the overall club championship. “We all came here with one goal,” said Tigers assistant coach Josh Roper. “That’s the great thing about this tournament. We came here wanting to show that Five Star is a force to be reckoned with.” Trailing 1-0 in the second, the Tigers got a two-run single from Glisson to take the lead for good. After an error in the third helped the Tigers take a 3-1 lead, Glisson came through with another single to make it 5-1. In the fifth, Miles Burris capped a 3-for-3 game at the plate with an RBI single as part of a three-run frame to make it 8-1. “We had to have good at-bats because, if you swing at the first pitch, it might not be the best pitch you get,” said Burris. The sixth would see 6-4-3 go in order to give the championship to the Tigers. “Those kids (at 6 -4-3) had to play 10 games this tournament. I know they had to play four games yesterday and then win this morning just to get to this game,” said coach Roper. “They are a very fundamentally sound, well-coached team. We’ve got a lot of respect for them.” Winning the division was great for Five Star, but the unique format of the tournament where age groups from 9u to 14u were all in the same tournament will help the organization going forward, according to coach Roper. “Right now, these boys are going to go watch our 9u teams play in that championship game. Our 10u team finished and they were here watching us," he said. "This tournament gives us a real sense of community and the sense of being an organization and not just a team. I think it’s great that they’re out there cheering on other age groups and being proud of being part of Five Star.” 6-4-3 took a 1-0 lead thanks to three consecutive hits to start the game. From there, however, they would be kept off the board as the Tigers would get the win. 6-4-3 finishes the tournament with a 6-4 record. Tags: Baseball, Triple Crown Baseball, Triple Crown Sports, US Club Nationals  A weary East Cobb Astros team found the resolve to score two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take the lead and defeat the EvoShield Canes 8-6 to stay alive in the championship bracket of the 13u division of the Triple Crown U.S. Club Nationals.
“The beauty of a double-elimination tournament is that if you have a bad game, you can still bounce back and put some games together to make it to the championship,” said Astros head coach Ben Blumenthal. “We were pretty sluggish in that game and did a lot of things that, if we continue to do that, will mean our tournament won’t end well. Hopefully, we can get some rest tonight and it was just playing three games in this heat that made them sluggish.” The Canes rallied to take a 6-5 lead in the top of the fourth, but in the home half of the inning, the Astros got a big hit off the bat of Treylen White to take the lead. With the score tied, White ripped an offering into the gap in right-center to plate two, giving the Astros an 8-6 lead. “I just had to get a pitch to hit,” White said. “It didn’t matter if it was low or high, inside or out, I had to get ahead in the count and get my pitch.” With the clock running out on the two-hour time limit, the Canes tried to mount a rally in the top of the fifth, getting runners on second and third with two men out; however, Trey Sanders would get out of the jam on the mound to send the game into the bottom of the fifth. After the first out was recorded, the game was called as time expired on the Canes chances. “We knew it was getting late,” White said. “We didn’t want to waste any time. If they had come back, we might have only had one more chance to win the game.” White knew that playing in a third game Friday, with the potential to play three more Saturday, could be very taxing. “That’s what you run and condition for,” White said. “You have to build up your stamina for weekends like this.” “The biggest thing we can do [tomorrow] is shorten games,” coach Blumenthal said. “If we can score a bunch of runs and only play three or four innings instead of six or seven, that’s how [teams] get wins. If not, you run out of pitching and you’ve got to start hoping you can out-bang the other team.” The Astros move on to play at 9 a.m. Saturday morning against the 13u Colorado Slammers – Holzemer. The Canes will play the South Bay Surf for fifth place in the division. Tags: Baseball, Triple Crown Baseball, Triple Crown Sports, US Club Nationals  Needing extra innings just hours earlier against the Dallas Tigers, the 14u East Cobb Astros weren’t about to let the same thing happen in the semifinals of Triple Crown’s US Club Nationals.
Down early, a tide-turning six-run inning propelled the Astros over the Tidewater Drillers, 6-4. The win puts East Cobb into the championship game set to air Saturday on ESPN3 at Noon ET. “It was a real gritty performance,” said coach Kenneth Clarke. “The bats aren’t always there, but we found a way to win, played a little small ball and made routine plays. When those things come together, you have a chance.” Riding a bit of a Cinderella streak, Tidewater came out firing in the opening end of the first inning. Two runs came across, aided by a two singles and a double. “I have a lot of confidence in this team,” said starting pitcher Will Turner. “They’re hitting the ball really hard and we just had to come out and pull out the win.” Turner didn’t have to wait terribly long for his team to pick him up. After a relatively quiet second inning, East Cobb stepped to the plate in the bottom of the third with something to prove. Quinn Kerce jumped on an elevated fastball and while lead-off hitters are normally instructed just to get on base, Kerce touched them all, sending a towering home run over the left field fence. “I never really knew where the ball went,” said Kerce. “I just went up there to hit and when all the fans started cheering, I figured it must have gone out.” As momentum started to swing in favor of the home town kids, each of the next three East Cobb batters reach first base safely, allowing Michael Taylor to drive home Jaden Browning to tie the game at two. The Astros were nowhere near finished with its big inning, though. Two batters later Ian Brooks collected a two-RBI single and would come around to score himself. In total, East Cobb rattled off six runs in the inning, trading positions from trailing by two, to leading by four. Blink, and you’ve wouldn’t missed Turner’s middle innings. A pair of strikeouts combined with a stout defense behind him, Tidewater never reached further than second base. East Cobb even caught the Drillers in a 6-5-4 double play in the fifth inning. “It’s so much easier to go out there and pitch when you know the defense is going to make plays behind you,” said Turner. “I really felt like I started to pick up momentum and I was starting to locate my pitches better and find my rhythm.” Tidewater made sure it wouldn’t be the end of the fight. A night earlier, the Drillers completed a six-run comeback down to its last out. Friday afternoon at East Cobb, they looked to do just the same. With the bases loaded and two outs gone in the final inning, murmurs began circulating about a possible second come back in as many nights. A walk brought the tying run to second and forced Kenneth Clarke to go to Jaden Browning to grab the game’s final out. Browning succeeded, forcing the ground out to second base and cementing East Cobb in the Championship game Saturday. “I know a lot of people have been talking about our offense,” said Kerce. “But it’s the pitching that gives us a lot of intensity and it carries over into our at-bats.” East Cobb awaits its challenger for the 14u US Club Nationals title. The Astros will await the winner of Evoshield Canes and the same Tidewater Driller team they just defeated. “All I can ask is that these guys compete at a high level every day,” said Clarke. “That’s what I want to see tomorrow.” Tags: Baseball, Triple Crown Baseball, US Club Championship, US Club Nationals  Like a full bathtub with a leak, the 13u 6-4-3 DP Athletics team watched everything they had slowly slip away Friday during championship bracket play at the US Club Nationals.
After watching the South Bay Surf come all the way back from a 4-0 deficit to tie the game at 5-all, the Athletics needed to reinvigorate and flip the switch, or else face a long journey through the loser’s bracket if it hoped to reach Saturday’s final. But with a burst of seventh-inning fireworks, the Athletics got the blood pumping again and posted a 12-6 victory to move deeper in the winner’s half of the 13 bracket. Saturday, the Athletics will face the Dallas Tigers at 9 a.m., with the winner earning spot in the final (3 p.m., ESPN3). The loser will drop down and still have a chance to fight through the lower half. The Athletics had runners on first and third after two pitches in the first inning and cashed in a run on a double from Parker Lester. Champ Davis drove in two more with a second-inning double, and Dawson Campbell’s sacrifice fly in the third made it 4-0. The Surf responded, and a single from Jaime Robertson and a sacrifice fly by Eli Serrano tied it in the sixth.; 6-4-3 reliever Druw Jones escaped the frame with two runners in scoring position. In the top of the seventh, Davis led off with a single, and after being unable to get the bunt down, Josh Kaiz singled as well. Lester’s two-run double was the key shot as Jones allowed just one harmless run in the bottom of the frame. “We try to preach, every inning – add on. Every team here is good, and if you let them back in, the pressure is on you,” said Athletics coach Chris Goershel. “But this team proved it could play seven complete innings and do the little things in the field, and also respond when it’s time to step to the plate.” Lester threw a rigorous and demanding five innings before the Surf fought back and tied it, which made his big hit in the seventh all the more satisfying. “I was just trying to make my pitches and hit location, and let my defense work. They will make plays for me and get outs,” said Lester, who had three hits, two doubles, two runs and three RBI. “I was hoping to drive in some runs (in the seventh). I just had to put the ball in play and hit it hard, and I happened to get a double. We have fight and want to win every ball game.” “Parker pitched a big game in pool play to give us a chance to get in the bracket, and he came around and stepped up today. He’s one of those kids – he does everything 100 percent and if one of the best kids in the nation in this age group,” added Goershel. Davis reached base three times; leadoff hitter Haydon Smith had three hits and scored three runs and also drove in a run. “I was looking to get my team to the next step,” Davis said about his leadoff hit in the seventh. “It’s just getting on, getting in and scoring that run and then getting to the (end) of the inning and closing it out. I had a 2-1 count (in the second inning) and thought I’d get a fastball, and that’s what I got. “Our energy in the dugout is big, in how we can stay up throughout the whole game, whether we are up and down. That’s a big part of things.” Chase Couig had a big two-run single for the Surf; Baylor Aimesley scored a run and drove in another. Tags: Baseball, Triple Crown Baseball, US Club Nationals  On the hottest day of the summer, perhaps the only thing hotter than the temperatures were the bats of the Dallas Tigers. After a loss to the East Cobb Astros the day before in pool play, the Tigers struck back in a big way with a 20-4 (4) win to advance to the winner’s bracket semifinal game in the 13u division of the Triple Crown U.S. Club Nationals.
The Tigers sent 11 batters to the plate in the first inning, scoring eight times to stake starting pitcher Josh Livingston to a big lead before he ever stepped on the mound. Livingston helped his own cause with a two-out RBI single to keep the inning going. “Pitching with the lead is a whole lot different than not,” said Tigers coach Chad Polk. “The Astros are a good, quality team that can hit the ball too. Even when we scored those eight runs, I still felt we had a lot of game to go. We didn’t treat it any differently than a tight game.” “My team helped me out with some run support, because yesterday we played this team and didn’t do so well,” Livingston said, referencing his squad’s 13-7 loss to the Astros in pool play. “Going out and hitting around in the first inning really helped out.” The Tigers would go ahead 11-0 after hitting in the top half of the second, but a grand slam in the bottom of the inning helped the Astros cut the lead to seven. With the Astros threatening to draw closer with two men in scoring position and one out, Livingston got out of the jam to keep the Astros stifled. From there, the Tigers would roll the rest of the way. At least eight batters came to the plate in each of the final two innings as the Tigers would jump out to a commanding 20-4 victory. “We were able to string together some good at bats,” coach Polk said. “That just shows focus. Our kids were focused to be able to do that.” For Livingston, it was important to go the distance on the mound. “I just wanted to get through the game so we could save pitchers for tomorrow. Getting through with just one pitcher was big because we need all the pitchers we have available for tomorrow.” Coach Polk knows his team is focused and ready for tomorrow’s 9 a.m. contest with 6-4-3 DP (GA), which will see the winner move to the championship game of the division. “This team has been in this position before,” he said. “We know when we get this deep in the bracket, they’re going to have a good pitcher to throw against us, and we’re going to have a good pitcher to throw against them. The team that can execute and can make a couple of plays will win the game.” Tags: Baseball, Triple Crown Sports, US Club Nationals  For South Bay Surf, winning on the field in the 12u division of the Triple Crown U.S. Club Championships has led to more fun off the field. The Surf ensured themselves a lot more free time Thursday thanks to a 13-3 (4) win over the Dallas Patriots to lock down one of the top seeds in the Championship Bracket.
“We wanted to come in and represent the West Coast, represent California and all of the hard work we put in,” said Surf head coach Jonathon LaRosa. “A lot of these kids work with personal trainers and personal pitching coaches. They work hard. It was our goal to be the top team coming out of pool play, and hopefully we accomplished that today.” The Surf jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning thanks to clutch two-out hitting. All of the runs for the Surf in the first, and again in a four-run third, came with two outs in the inning. Jillian Albayati started the scoring with an RBI double in the first, then came through with another two-run double in the third. Hector Galvan also drove in three runs with hits in the first and the third. “We know the team that makes the fewest mistakes usually wins games,” Galvan said. “We knew if we came out and didn’t make any mistakes, we’d have a good chance to win.” Dallas scored two runs in the top of the fourth to cut the lead to 8-3, but the Surf pulled away with five runs in the bottom of the inning to put the game out of reach. Jeremy LaRosa’s double with two outs in the inning would be the one to put a lid on the contest. In total, 11 of the 13 runs scored by the Surf were with two outs. “Our two-out hitting was clutch for us,” coach LaRosa said. “Playing in this heat isn’t fun, but if you have the chance to only play a four-inning game, our kids are going to go for it.” For coach LaRosa, almost as important as winning in the tournament is the opportunity to explore a part of the country that many of his players have never visited before. The win in this morning’s game means the team will be able to travel to Atlanta and visit locations like the World of Coca-Cola Museum. “Winning this game was essential because if we didn’t win this game, there was a chance that we were going to have to come back and play this evening, and that was going to spoil our plans,” he said. “But this trip, we’ve had a lot of fun, we’ve had a lot of pool parties, some good family time, and just a lot of team bonding.” South Bay Surf finishes with a 3-0 mark in pool play, with the Dallas Patriots closing pool play at 0-3. Tags: Baseball, Triple Crown Baseball, US Club Nationals  It was just another day at the office for the 14u Five Star Tigers at Triple Crown’s US Club Nationals. A workman-like approach guided the Tigers to its third straight victory, 15-0, over the Dallas Patriots.
After dismantling the hometown 6-4-3 DP squad,12-5, and cruising past Mound Time, 12-3, it was little surprise to anyone that Five Star’s offense would shine in its third game in two days. “The boys are playing with confidence,” said head coach Eric Hurley. “They’re seeing the ball well at the plate, throwing strikes early in the counts and playing well defensively. Right now, we just want to continue doing what we’re doing.” Richard Long was pegged with the starting job on Thursday morning at East Cobb. Long worked a solid two innings, allowing just two base runners and striking out two. “I was able to locate my fastball pretty well today,” said Long. “I’ve had a couple of good previous outings on the mound and I just wanted to keep it going today.” While Long was busy blanking the Patriots in the top half of the first two innings, the Tigers were equally as busy putting together an impressive offense showcase in the bottom half. Kohl Robertson technically led the first inning off with a strikeout, but a dropped third strike, coupled with Roberston’s speed led him to reach first base easily. Right behind him, Connor Hults would smash a triple, giving Five Star its first lead of the game, 1-0. “We’ve been extremely confident at the plate as of late,” said Roberston. “Each of us believe in each other to get the job done.” The Tiger’s wouldn’t settle for a single run, though. Aggressive base running led to three stolen bases and three more runs in that initial inning to put the Tigers up, 4-0. An inning later, Five Star was up to its old tricks again. For the second time in as many innings, the Tigers led off with a dropped third strike, this time with Brogan Napier scurrying to first base. Taking advantage of the Patriots’ mistakes, Jaden Flowers and Trey Powers each notched RBI base hits behind him. Powers and Flowers stole three bases combined in the second inning. In fact, Five Star’s approach on the base paths led to 10 stolen bases throughout the morning. Reaping the fruits of their labor, the Tigers plated seven more runs in the second inning, extending their margin, 11-0. With a gigantic lead in hand, Hurley opted for Kohl Robertson on the mound. Not just a terrific lead-off hitter, Robertson dialed up two innings, nearly mirroring Long’s body of work. “Just like Richard, I knew I just had to locate my fastball,” said Robertson. In the third inning, The Tigers could almost smell victory already. Four more runs, including another dropped third strike gave Five Star a 15-0 advantage. Suddenly, the Tigers needed just three outs to secure its third victory of the tournament. Robertson delivered what Five Star needed. Aided by a throw out from catcher Trey Powers, Robertson added a strikeout and a fly out to right field to secure the win, 15-0. “It’s always a plus when you don’t have to use your pitching,” said Hurley. “But there are a lot of quality teams here. Triple Crown has done a great job putting good competition together." “So I expect this tournament to get down to the nuts and bolts real quick. I’m looking forward to it and I know my players are too.” Tags: Baseball, Triple Crown Baseball, US Club Nationals |
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