FORT MYERS, Fla. – Semifinal Saturday featured four teams each vying for a spot in the 13u BCS and PG Super25 National Championships, and after all was said and done two worthy matchups will take place Sunday at JetBlue Park.
The most impressive player across all the play that has happened this week stepped into the spotlight again as D-Bat Elite’s Jordan Viers came into Saturday having hit three home runs in the BCS National Championship and driven in 15 runs in seven games. The lefthander was called upon on the mound as D-Bat Elite took on Lights Out Baseball USA.
After firing a scoreless first inning, Viers was at it again as he drove a single though the left side to bring home Weston Duncan (2022, Bartonville, Texas) to make it an early 1-0 D-Bat Elite lead.
Lights Out answered back in the second as Jeremy Duran (2022, Mission, Texas) doubled to left, scoring Drew Lafferty (2022, Spring, Texas) to tie the game at one.
Viers (2021, Prosper, Texas) and Lights Out starter Magnus Miller (2021, Corpus Christi, Texas) would silence each team’s offense into the fifth inning. Lafferty relieved Miller in the fifth and continued the good work on the mound as the game entered the sixth still tied up at one.
D-Bat Elite’s Trevor Duck (2022, Flower Mound, Texas) led off the bottom of the sixth beating out an infield hit and Joesph Hernandez (2021, Grand Prairie, Texas) drew a walk to put D-Bat in business. With two strikes on him, Christian Walton (2022, Lewisville, Texas) dropped down a perfect bunt to move both runners up with one out.
Duncan drew another walk to load the bases, but Lafferty got a strikeout for the second out and had to deal with Viers at the plate to try and send the game to the seventh tied up.
On a 2-2 count, Viers got a pitch he could handle and laced a line drive to center that scored Duck and Hernandez to give D-Bat Elite a 3-1 lead with three more outs to try and get.
Viers surrendered back-to-back singles with one out, but got a flyout to center on his last pitch of the day as he hit his daily pitch limit. Xavier Arias (2021, La Vernia, Texas) only needed two pitches to wrap the game up, getting a ground ball to shortstop to send D-Bat Elite to the championship game.
The other BCS semifinal featured the Kangaroo Court Roos and PNW Regional Baseball/NW Elite.
The Roos struck first in the top of the second as Miles Curley (2022, Largo, Fla.) and Gio Suarez (2021, Spring Hill, Fla.) delivered run-scoring hits to put Kangaroo Court up 2-0. PNW would scratch across a run in the bottom half, as back-to-back doubles from Hayden Dearie (2022, Seattle, Wash.) and Nate Kassler (2021, Olympia, Wash.) made it 2-1.
Cade Kurland (2023, Tampa, Fla.) doubled home another run for the Roos in the third, and in the fifth Suarez and Roos’ starting pitcher Izzy Oliva (2022, Tampa, Fla.) had back-to-back doubles to produce another run to make it 4-1.
PNW would get a run back in the bottom half as Colton Bower (2022, Poulsbo, Wash.) lined a single to left to make it a 4-2 game, but Oliva picked up a big strikeout with the bases loaded and two outs on his final pitch of the game to escape further damage.
The Roos broke it wide open in the sixth as they plated six runs on six hits, with Suarez and Oliva again in the midst of the action as they each drove in a run to give the Roos a big lead that they wouldn’t surrender. They moved on with an 11-5 victory and will matchup with D-Bat Elite in the championship game.
In PG Super25 semifinal action, another tight game ensued between the GoWags Jays and the Motor City Hit Dogs as Ben Chase (2021, Cochranville, Pa.) and John Locker (2021, Birmingham, Mich.) were locked up in a pitcher’s duel for their respective clubs. The two righthanders kept traffic on the basepaths to a minimum through four innings as the game reached the home half of the fifth scoreless.
The Hit Dogs finally got to Chase as two walks brought Locker to the plate with the chance to give himself the lead. Locker would hit a bloop to shallow center that the Jays’ shortstop could not haul in, allowing Brock Porter (2022, Milford, Mich.) to come across with the game’s first run.
Ezekiel King (2022, Lake Orion, Mich.) would scamper home on a wild pitch to make it 2-0. and Connor Luck (2022, Fenton, Mich.) made it a three-run inning on an RBI single to left.
The Jays would respond with a run in the top of the sixth on an RBI groundout from Braedon Karpathios (2021, Willow Street, Pa.) and had a chance for more as Chase batted with two men on and two outs. Chase would send a deep drive down into the left corner by the line and Hit Dogs’ left fielder Luke Janack (2022, Myrtle Beach, S.C.) ran a long way to grab it on the run, saving a guaranteed two runs and possibly more to keep the Hit Dogs in front.
The Jays mounted one more rally in the seventh as Locker hit his daily pitch limit and Michael Perazza (2023, Lake Orion, Mich.) came on to try and close it out for the Hit Dogs.
A single, a walk and a bunt single loaded the bases with one out as Braidi Betts (2021, Vineland, N.J.) came to the plate for the Jays. Betts hit a slow roller to first, and as the Hit Dog first baseman threw home to get the force at the plate, the Jays’ runner made contact with the catcher which forced the umpire to rule interference on an attempted throw back to first, resulting in a double play which gave the Hit Dogs the victory and a spot in the championship game.
In the other semifinal matchup. the East Cobb Astros and Georgia Bombers engaged in a slugfest that featured an outstanding performance from Astros’ leadoff man Benjamin Hamacher. Hamacher (2021, Marietta, Ga.) led the game off with an infield hit and scored the game’s first run as he came in from third on a double play to put the Astros out in front 1-0.
The Bombers answered in the bottom of the first as Dee Oliver (2023, Martin, Ga.) led off the inning with a double and he would score on a bases-loaded walk with two outs to even the score at one.
The third inning featured nine total runs, with the Astros scoring five times and the Bombers answering back with four as each club took advantage of wildness on the mound as the two teams combined to walk eight batters to prolong each team’s half inning and contribute to the scoring.
Hamacher led off the fourth with another single for the Astros and came in to score on an RBI single from Treylen White (2021, Moore, S.C.). White would increase the Astro lead to 8-5 scoring on a wild pitch.
The Bombers would get a run back in the bottom half of the inning, as Parker Brosius (2022, Suwanee, Ga.) knocked in a run with a single to left coming with two outs to cut the deficit to 8-6.
Hamacher continued his tremendous afternoon by coming up in the fifth and launching a two-out double that sparked a two-run inning as Thaddeus Ector (2021, Atlanta, Ga.) brought him home on a single to center. Ector moved to second on a passed ball and would score on a Jared Jones (2022, Marietta, Ga.) single to right to make it a 10-6 Astro lead.
After pushing across two more runs in the sixth, the Astros would score seven runs in the seventh with six of those coming with two outs. Hamacher picked up his fourth hit of the day with an RBI single to center in the process and finished 4-for-5 and scoring four runs on the afternoon as the Astros moved into Sunday’s championship game.
The Hit Dogs and the Astros will play the first championship game at 8:00 a.m., with D-Bat Elite and Kangaroo Court Roos to follow with all of the action taking place at the stadium at JetBlue Park.