EMERSON, Ga. – It started modestly enough back in early April 2013, when eight teams – four from Florida and four from Georgia – gathered at Terry Park and City of Palms Park in Fort Myers, Fla., for what was billed as a battle of bragging rights between the two states.
That first Perfect Game High School Showdown didn’t really prove anything as far as superiority goes, of course, with each Florida team playing each Georgia team in a round-robin format with the Venice (Fla.) Senior High School Indians being crowned the champions after blanking its four Peach State opponents by a combined 19-0.
Venice Senior will be back for this year’s rendition of the PG High School Showdown, but not a whole heck of a lot else remains the same from that inaugural event. It was widely praised at its conclusion, but it’s likely even the people associated with the Venice program will tell you this year’s event looks better than ever.
The 3rd annual Perfect Game High School Showdown and 2nd annual PG High School Showdown-Academies will run Thursday through Saturday (March 12-14) at its new home, Perfect Game Park South at LakePoint.
Thirteen top high school teams from Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas – including three ranked in the top-21 nationally – will compete for the PG High School Showdown championship and another 11 from Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Puerto Rico will contend for the PG HS Showdown-Academies crown.
Both 2014 champions are back to defend their titles. Sarasota (Fla.) High School beat DeSoto Central High School (Southaven, Miss.) to win the PG HS Showdown championship at jetBlue Park in Fort Myers, and upstart Faith Baptist Christian School (Brandon, Fla.) topped heavily favored Salisbury (Conn.) Prep in the PG HS Showdown-Academies championship game.
“This is a well-run tournament … and the talent was really, really good,” veteran Sarasota head coach Clyde Metcalf said after his team won the 2014 title. “There were some very good teams here and you had to go out and grind every game. … We look forward to coming here (for the Showdown) – really a great tournament and really, really some quality ballplayers. There were some good baseball players here.”
There might be even more this year. Dozens of prospects from each of the 13 teams in the PG HS Showdown are nationally ranked, with many of those players wearing the uniforms of the No. 2 IMG Academy Ascenders (Bradenton, Fla.), the No. 16 DeSoto Central Jaguars and the No. 21 Kennesaw Mountain Mustangs (Kennesaw, Ga.).
After its runner-up finish at last year’s PG HS Showdown, DeSoto Central returned to Mississippi and got on a roll, and ultimately finished as runner-up at the Class 6A state tournament. Head coach Mark Monaghan said the Showdown acted as sort of a springboard for his team.
“It was outstanding; we had a great time,” he told PG late last week. “It actually kind of turned out to be one of those pivotal points in our season where we felt like we played our best baseball, knowing that we were able to put together some wins over some top-notch programs. We really enjoyed the great competition and the experience in general was a great one for our program.”
The Jaguars return with six seniors ranked in the top-500 nationally, led by right-hander/third baseman and PG All-American Austin Riley (No. 65, Mississippi State signee); right-hander/infielder Dallas Woolfolk (No. 151, Ole Miss); outfielder/right-hander Brant Blaylock (No. 442, Mississippi State); right-hander Keegan James (top-500, Mississippi State); catcher/infielder Carson Klepzig (top-500, Ole Miss) and outfielder Colin Coates (top-500, Hinds Community College). Monaghan knows his team will be challenged this weekend.
“We do everything that we can to put together one of the toughest schedules that we possibly can,” Monaghan said. “That prepares us to try to win a state championship; that’s the ultimate goal. This tournament does just that. It’s going to prepare you to try to win a state championship and we’re stoked about the competition.”
Columbia High School (Columbia, Miss.) and Magnolia Heights High School (Senatobia, Miss.) are other schools from Mississippi in the field.
IMG Academy will provide plenty of competition to any team that lines up against it at the Showdown. The elite academy draws players from all over the country, and this year’s Ascenders’ roster includes 16 seniors, juniors and sophomores that have committed to NCAA Division I schools. IMG won six of its first seven games to start this season.
Left-hander/first-baseman Logan Allen from North Carolina (No. 74, South Carolina), shortstop/third baseman Ryan Karstetter from Pennsylvania (No. 143, Virginia) and outfielder Eric Feliz from New Jersey (No. 211, Notre Dame) are the top seniors back from last year’s team that competed in the Showdown.
Newcomers include seniors L.T. Tolbert from South Carolina (No. 77, South Carolina) and Danny Blair from Maryland (No. 117, South Carolina); juniors Jason Groome from New Jersey (No. 4, Vanderbilt), Anthony Holubecki from Illinois (No. 46, Notre Dame), Dion Henderson from Michigan (No. 132, Kentucky) and Nick Derr from Illinois (No. 144, Florida State); sophomore Austin Bates from Arizona (No. 88, North Carolina) is also on board.
“When you look at our core guys … they’ve certainly seen the best competition,” IMG Baseball Program Manager Nick Phelps told PG last month. “They’ve been measured and tested, and they’re proven winners – a guy like Logan Allen is a winner and he’s proven that.”
2014 PG HS Showdown champion Sarasota and 2013 PG HS Showdown champ Venice Senior are the other Florida schools in the lineup this weekend.
Kennesaw Mountain is playing in the PG HS Showdown for the first time and leads a solid delegation of Georgia schools that also includes Cartersville, Parkview and Savannah Christian.
Five Mustang seniors are ranked in the top-500 nationally: outfielder Reggie Pruitt (No. 99, Vanderbilt); catcher/right-hander Tyler Stephenson (#103, Georgia Tech); right-hander/shortstop Ryley Gilliam (No. 152, Clemson); catcher/right-hander/third baseman Cole Buffington (No. 470, The Citadel) and right-hander/outfielder Zach Goodman (top-500, Clemson). Uncommitted juniors Terence Norman (No. 288) and Matthew Cole (No. 318) are also highly regarded.
The state of Tennessee has two entrants in the PG HS Showdown field with Collierville High School and Murfreesboro Central High School; Concordia Lutheran High School out of Tomball, Texas, will represent the Lone Star State. PG All-American Ke’Bryan Hayes (No. 35, Tennessee) and Garret Wolforth (No. 51, Dallas Baptist), both seniors, lead the Crusaders.
“It’s good to play against teams that you know are good and you know nothing about them,” DeSoto Central’s Monaghan said of facing teams from outside his home state. “You just go out there and you’ve got two teams that are going after each other and just playing the game, and that’s good.”
Florida-based SBO Florida (West Palm Beach), SBO Puerto Rico (West Palm Beach) and West Oaks Academy (Orlando) are among the teams that will try to keep Faith Baptist from repeating as champion at the PG HS Showdown-Academies. Puerto Rican entrants ESCA Baseball School (Dorado) and VBS Elite (Vega Baja) will also make the trip to the mainland.
East Cobb Baseball Academy and East Cobb Padres-Spring HS from nearby Marietta, Ga., and Woodstock, Ga., respectively will join fellow Georgia entrants Homeplate Citadels (McDonough) and North Metro GA Baseball (Buford) in the field. Charlotte Country Day School will represent North Carolina at the event.