EMERSON, Ga. - Team ECB Select secured their spot in the playoffs in their win over
SBO Rockhounds 14u on Monday in the 14u/15u PG/EvoShield Classic.
Noah
Turner spent five innings on the mound against the Rockhounds, walking
two, striking out five and giving up only two hits. He spent three
innings on the mound in Friday’s game striking out two batters and
allowing no runs to be scored. Head coach of ECB Select Chris Haylard,
said Turner is his No. 1 pitcher.
“He’s probably thrown about 80
innings this year,” explained Haylard. “His out pitch is his
fastball, away, and he threw that about 90-percent of the time today and
got groundball outs and we kinda stuck with that routine and it worked
for us.”
Ethan Underwood took over the last two innings for
Turner. He only allowed one hit during his time on the mound and struck
out one.
“They have basically thrown flawless all year,” said
Haylard about Turner and Underwood. “They throw strikes, pitch to
contact, and do a great job.”
Team ECB Select also stepped up at
the plate, racking up six runs. Duke Wodetzki and Dalton Halyard both
went 1-for-2 with an RBI single. Sam Kuchinski also went 1-for-2 with a
two-run triple.
Coming off a tough 1-0 loss on Saturday, they
are determined to win the rest of their games, and most importantly come
out on the top of their pool.
“So far this week, we’ve really
pitched well, and we’re pitching to contact, and my defense is pretty
much error free,” said Haylard about his team’s performance so far in
the tournament. “We’re making the routine plays, we’re getting hits when
we need to, and moving base runners over when we need to, and that’s
basically how we are getting on top.
“We’ve basically had the
same philosophy all tournament: we pitch to contact. We try to move base
runners over, we don’t try to do too much and we try to get ahead early
and we try to get aggressive on the base paths and that’s worked out
for us all week long and we’ve got a pretty good record right now, I
think we’re pretty much sitting on top, first or second seed right now.”
Team ECB is now 3-1 in pool play. After BFAST Baseball lost
today, they are now tied for that No. 1 spot. They will face-off
tomorrow morning at Perfect Game Park South at LakePoint. The winner
will take the No. 1 spot. In the event of a tie, it will be the team who
gave up the least runs in pool play who comes out on top.
“I’m
going to stick with the same game plan: pitch to contact and try to get
ahead early and try to be aggressive on the base paths and hopefully we
can have more runs than they do at the end,” said Haylard about
tomorrow’s game. “This is our last tournament and we just want to end on
a good note and basically go into our 15u season on a positive high.”
Team
ECB has played in two other Perfect Game events this summer, the 14u
BCS Finals in Ft. Myers, and the 14u WWBA National Championship here in
Emerson. Kuchinski, Wodetzki, and Matthew Mamatas made the
All-Tournament team at the WWBA National Championship.
East Cobb
is an organization based out of Marietta, Ga and has 64 teams ranging
from ages 8-18. Haylard said that in order to develop the players at the
14u age, his team puts in a lot of time and practice.
“[We do] a
lot of drill work, a lot of fielding work and just breaking down the
game at a fundamental stand point. We take the infielders and have an
infielders practice, and the outfielders and have an outfielders
practice. Nothing but that one day, and nothing but hitting the next day
and just flip flop on that while also doing bullpens with the pitchers
making sure their arms are conditioned enough to throw six or seven
innings if they can.”
Being from East Cobb, Haylard and his
players have a lot of experience with Perfect Game. Over the years,
Perfect Game has used East Cobb complex, but Haylard is impressed with
the new complex at LakePoint.
“This complex is unbelievable. We
had a tough time getting used to the turf on the ground balls so we try
to get here early before our games to get a lot of ground balls and fly
balls so we can see what the tracks like. We’re used to it now and we
love playing up here now. It’s a lot different game on the turf vs. the
grass. I think it slows it down a little bit but I think it’s an
advantage for us,” explained Haylard. “Overall we love playing up here.”