16u Astros Win PG Southeast World Series Champions
Perfect Game 16U Southeast World Series Champions – 16u Astros Texas Orange
The 2020 PG 16U Southeast World Series came to a close Thursday afternoon with the East Cobb Astros Texas Orange taking the crown. The Astros faced a tough 643 DP Cougars Sterling/Mang in the final game of the tournament, coming out with a win 9-4.
The Astros completed a clean sweep of the tournament field finishing 7-0 while managing to only allow seven runs. In the first six games, this team was not tested, posting six mercy rule victories. In pool play, the Astros scored 39 runs while shutting out their opponents. In the first bracket game, the Astros used Benjy Tucker’s big day on the mound to power them to an 8-0 victory. Tucker allowed only one hit in five innings of work while striking out eight. The Astros used a team effort in the quarterfinals to advance to the semifinal game. Chandler Pollard, Jared Jones, and Dylan Lesko all had multiple RBIs in the game. Pitchers Jackson Gaspard and Jake Hembree combined to one hit the Home Plate Chili Dogs and propel them to the championship game.
Starting pitcher, Jordan Fricks, was excellent on the mound in his five innings of work in the championship game. Fricks worked quickly and flashed his breaking ball quite often, which made the 643 hitters look lost at the plate.
After a quick top half of the first, the Astros jumped on 643, putting three on the scoreboard. Lleyton Lackey started the game with a single and moved to third on a stolen base and passed ball. Thaddeus Ector hit a deep line drive for a double and with runners on second and third, Jared Jones hit a ball deep enough to score the runner from third. Benjamin Hamacher then busted it open with a line drive to the right center scoring two more in the bottom of the first.
In the bottom of the second, an error allowed the Astros to post another run after back to back hits by Dylan Lesko and Jared Jones.
It was continued dominance in the top of the third for Jordan Fricks who sat the 643 hitters down in order. The Astros onslaught continued in the bottom half of the third scoring two more runs to make the score 6-1. They used small ball for the first run by: a hit batter, a bloop single, an infield bunt, and a walk to score a run. Lleyton Lackey hit a sacrifice fly scoring Dylan Cupp for their second run of the inning.
In the bottom half of the fourth, the Astros scored two more runs to extend their to lead to 8-1 after another costly 643 error. Dylan Cupp doubled for the Astros driving in both runs. That made the score 8-2 mid-way through the fifth inning. In the bottom half of the fifth, Jared Jones hit an RBI-double after Ector’s ground-rule double for another Astros run.
The top of the 6th welcomed new Astros pitcher, Agyei Quinichett, who shut the door on 643 pitching the final two innings of the game. 643 scored two more runs in the sixth inning, but it was not enough to overtake the Astros.
The ECB Astros Texas Orange are the 2020 Perfect Game 16U Southeast World Series champions with a 9-4 victory over the 634 DP Cougars.
The team was led by Jared Jones, who is the number one ranked catcher in the U.S. and committed to LSU. Jones ended up taking home the tournament MVP trophy after his stellar performance at the plate, by posting a .611 batting average with 13 RBIs and one home run.
This was a great week of baseball as we look forward to the 2020 16U WWBA National Championship starting on Friday, June 10th.
Perfect Game 16U Southeast World Series MVP– Jared Jones
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