EMERSON, Ga. – There was no way Gunnar Hoglund was going to be taken out of this game. Not with a Perfect Game national championship there for the taking and not while he was pitching against a team he had been a member of as recently as a year ago this week.
This was the championship game at the 15u Perfect Game World Series and Hoglund, a 6-foot-4, 205-pound right-hander from Hudson, Fla., was making his first pitching start of the tournament for the No. 2-seeded Houston Banditos against the No. 1 Central Florida Gators, a team Hoglund played for in four tournaments in 2014.
The Banditos took a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the seventh against the hard-hitting Gators, and while Hoglund had been tremendously effective, he had also thrown 100 pitches through the first six. Banditos head coach Ray DeLeon was faced with a decision.
“I was going to take him out … and I had a bullpen ready and he said, ‘No, you’re not taking this ball away from me,’” DeLeon said. “He wanted the ball and I rode him out there; he threw harder in that last inning then he did in the first inning. … He did a phenomenal job; the kid’s a warrior.”
Hoglund needed 18 pitches to retire the Gators’ four, five and six hitters in order to complete a complete-game, 11-strikeout, five-hitter in the 3-1 championship game victory Thursday morning at PG Park South at LakePoint, and the celebration was on.
“I was ready to finish the job,” a very happy Hoglund said after accepting the Most Valuable Pitcher award for his championship game performance. “I didn’t feel (any fatigue); I was just running on adrenaline.”
The outcome capped a successful tournament run for the Banditos (7-1-1) and was a disappointing close for the Gators (7-1-0) who were arguably the best team here while winning their first seven games. They came into the championship game hitting .388 as team with 24 extra-base hits – 14 doubles, three triples, seven home runs – while averaging seven runs and 10 hits a game. It were those numbers that made Hogland’s outing all the more remarkable.
“I just tried to execute every pitch, and it worked today,” he said, noting that his changeup was especially effective against left-handed hitters. He also didn’t have to be reminded the performance came in a game in which his team was playing for a PG national championship. “You’ve got to be like a bulldog and just go out there and give it your all; you’ve got to want it.”
The Banditos took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second when Thomas Burbank smacked a lead-off triple and scored on a fielder’s choice groundout; they made it 3-0 in the third when Burbank delivered a two-out, two-run single.
Connor Ollio came through with an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth for Central Florida’s only run off of Hoglund. After the rocky start, the Gators brought 2018 left-hander Matthew Liberatore out of the pen and he shutout the Banditos on one hit while striking out five and walking three over the final four innings.
The Gators’ bats were something to behold throughout this event’s entire five-day run. They ended up hitting .364 as a team with 25 extra-base hits and scored 50 runs in eight games. The most dangerous bat was the one handled by 2018 outfielder/third baseman Elijah Cabell from Winter Park, Fla., who was named Most Valuable Player after hitting .500 (13-for-26) with three doubles, two triples, three home runs, six RBI and 10 runs scored while compiling a 1.667 OPS.
2019 Joseph Charles and 2018 Nolan Gorman also enjoyed MVP-caliber tournaments for the Gators. Charles was 12-for-23 (.522) with four doubles, a home run, five RBI and six runs; Gorman was 9-for-22 (.409) with a double, triple, two home runs, 11 RBI and six runs. Catcher/right-hander Mason Denaburg, the No. 35-ranked national prospect in the class of 2018, hit .368 with seven singles and pitched five shutout innings while giving up just one hit, striking out seven and walking four.
The Banditos hit .323 in their nine games with 26 extra-base hits and 54 runs scored. 2017 Alerick Soularie, a U. of Houston commit, was 13-for-27 (.481) with a double, triple, home run, six RBI and seven runs; Burbank, a 2018, was 12-for-26 (.462) with a double, triple, three RBI and seven runs, and 2018 Hunter Watson counted a double, triple and a home run among his six hits, and drove in four runs and scored six.
“These guys spend hours and days and weeks … together in the hotels and they go through ups and downs, putting up with me all the time, putting up with their parents – these kids go through a lot – and for them to come together like this (is special),” DeLeon said. “They play for each other – it’s really a team game – and 80 percent of these kids have been together since they were 10 years old.”
Hoglund played his first games with the Banditos just a week ago when he joined them here at PG Park South for the 15u PG WWBA National Championship where the Banditos advanced to the final four. He made three pitching appearances at that tournament but was not particularly effective, so he was thrilled to be a big part of this championship.
“There’s really no words to describe it,” he said. “They invited me out here and I just wanted to do my job and I wanted to win a ring.”
The Gators worked their way through pool-play with a 4-0 mark and earned the No. 1 seed and then had relatively stress-free victories over the No. 8 Tri-State Arsenal, 11-6, and No. 4 Baseball Northwest, 8-2, in their first two playoff games. They then rallied from a 3-2, third inning deficit with single runs in each of the fourth and fifth innings to eke out a 4-3 win over No. 6 Phenom Signature in the winner’s bracket semifinal.
2017 right-handers Eric Foggo and Tommy Ben combined to allow two earned runs on nine hits with no strikeouts and one walk in that semifinal victory. Charles was 2-for-2 with a double and Ollio, Denaburg and Tyler Callihan all drove in runs.
The Banditos earned the No. 2 seed on the strength of a 3-0-1 pool-play showing. They beat No. 7 NorCal Baseball, 9-1, in their playoff opener and then escaped No. 3 Game On Stealth, 2-1, to move into the winner’s bracket semifinal game opposite the No. 5 Team California Warriors.
Team Cali led 7-4 after three and 9-6 after six before Houston made it exciting with two runs in the bottom of the seventh to pull within 9-8; that’s the way it ended, a second semifinal game was required.
The Banditos’ bats really cranked up in that one with Watson going 2-for-2 with a home run, two walks, three RBI and two runs; Soularie was 2-for-3 with a home a home run, an RBI and two runs; and Hoglund doubled and drove in a pair in a 9-3 victory.
“Anything less than winning a national championship with this team is unacceptable,” DeLeon said. “We played hard – I think we’re as big and strong as anybody here – and it all comes down to who gets the big hit at the right time. It was a great team effort and everybody had something to do with it.”
2015 15u Perfect Game World Series runner-up: Central Florida Gators
2015 15u Perfect Game World Series MVP: Elijah Cabell
2015 15u Perfect Game World Series MV-Pitcher: Gunnar Hoglund
