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Tournaments  | Story  | 7/17/2018

Burn shoots for BCS success

Bryan Cooney     
Photo: Pierce Chambers (Perfect Game)

FORT MYERS, Fla. – It shouldn’t come as a surprise to many around the circles of Perfect Game to hear that a team from the successful Florida Burn program has raced to a great start at a national championship event.

At the 16u BCS National Championship, the Florida Burn Platinum 2020’s entered the week coming off of a strong showing at the 16u WWBA Championship at LakePoint in Georgia with an appearance in the second round of bracket play last week. It was the start of a busy stretch for the club, coached by Craig Faulkner, as this week’s event runs directly into their next tournament, which is the 16u PG World Series right back at LakePoint.

Completing their second day of the first batch of pool play contests on Tuesday, the Burn have been one of the most impressive teams in Fort Myers, racking up 27 runs of offense compared to the three runs allowed by their pitching staff. With the pools to be reseeded upon day’s end to line up the winners and runner-ups in the first pools against one another, Faulkner has been happy with how his group has brought their good form south.

“It’s a great opportunity for these players to see what it is like to play every day similar to a professional schedule,” Faulkner said. “I’ve been telling these guys, this is what it’s going to be like, you get tired and you’ve got to figure out how to get the energy and a higher level of focus so that you can perform at a high level every single day.”

The Burn got their tournament kicked off in style on Monday with an 11-0 trouncing of Houston Athletics 16u Black in five innings. Scoring five runs in the first inning and four more in the second, the Burn were paced offensively by Jayden Rivera (2020, Jacksonville, Fla.), who went 2-for-3 with a double and a pair of RBI.

Tuesday morning brought on a matchup with Team Mizuno Northeast Roadrunners, and it was Trace Burchard (2020, LaBelle, Fla.) starring at the plate with a 2-for-3 performance with two doubles and three RBI. That effort backed a strong start from Sam Drumheller (2020, Tampa, Fla.) who struck out six in four innings to lead the Burn to an 8-3 victory.

Heading into their final pool play game against the also unbeaten Ohio Surge, the Burn took advantage of wildness from the opposition’s pitching staff while getting big hits from TCU commit Pierce Chambers (2020, Treasure Island, Fla.). Chambers had an RBI double and a run-scoring single in the first two innings and a bases-clearing, three-run double from Florida commit Mac Guscette (2020, Nokomis, Fla.) in the second to jump out to a big lead. They finished with an 8-0 win in five innings to run the tables heading into Wednesday’s reseeding of pools.

The philosophy that Faulkner has brought when it comes to the use of his pitching staff has been to go either 45 or 30 pitches with each arm he calls on in order to keep his staff fresh for the duration of the tournament. For the entire pitching staff, getting the chance to have Guscette behind the plate for most of the games is a luxury that most teams do not have. Guscette, the No. 9-ranked catcher in the class of 2020, is adept at pitch framing and controlling the running game with his strong arm.

“Mac is one of the best there is, committed to Florida and he does things so well,” said Faulkner, who also coaches Guscette for the reigning 7A state champion Venice High School. “He hits the ball well, frames outstanding and throws extremely well. He plays the game at a high level and he’s the kind of kid you want on a team because he comes to play every single day. He’s never wants to take a day off, if he’s not catching one day, he can play first, third and he’s also really good on the mound too.”

The catching position is a strength for this Burn team as Chambers and Burchard are also primarily catchers, but have the versatility to play other positions. With three players of the caliber of being Division I level recruits, with two being committed to two of the top college baseball programs in country, Faulkner believes that for his other players on the roster, seeing the work it takes to become a player of that quality has raised the level of the entire unit.

“When you play with guys that play at a high level, it does bring the whole team up because players tend to play at the level among their teammates,” Faulkner said. “This is our highest level team at this age group, and so players who may have not played at this level before all of a sudden start to step up. Everyone’s game begins to pick up and our kids have improved from day one this summer.

“The motto of the Florida Burn is to not just play games, but teach the game while they’re playing so when they leave here, they are better players than when we got them.”

As the tournament moves into the point where the competition stiffens up, the Burn’s pitching plan could prove to be one that can give teams multiple looks in each game to make it difficult to zone in going one time through a batting order. With arms like Patrick Groark (2020, Land O’ Lakes, Fla.), Rivera, Drumheller, Burchard, Nick Romagnola (2020, Bradenton, Fla.), Jacob Faulkner (2020, Venice, Fla.), and Julien Brown (2020, Sarasota, Fla.) having allowed just the three runs over 16 innings, and more arms raring to go, the Burn sit in a good spot to make another long playoff run with its trajectory set on playing for a championship come Sunday.
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