EMERSON, Ga. – FBI Fungo secured their first victory of the 14u PG Evoshield Classic on Wednesday as they defeated Game Time 6-4. Fungo built an early lead but Game Time worked to tie the game in the third inning. Two late runs and important contributions from the bullpen and defense helped push Fungo over the top to improve to 1-1 in the tournament.
“We need to throw strikes on the mound and be aggressive at the plate,” said Daniel Stephens on the team’s in-game philosophy. “We don’t want to watch too many pitches and try to win the game.”
FBI Fungo is based out of North Carolina and has made their presence felt at Perfect Game events recently. The eight-year-old program’s primary focus is on player development and preparation for future levels. With this team especially, most of the players currently play middle school level baseball, but high school is right around the corner and they need to be prepared for that kind of workload.
“We started about eight years ago out of Raleigh and Wake Forest, North Carolina,” said manager Darren Burks. “We started off on a philosophy of development, so we didn’t necessarily market ourselves as an elite tournament program. But we’re getting there now, and the development helps because they’re seeing the results on the field. We’re not just pinning together showcase or tournament teams, the winning will take care of itself, but we’re developing players so they’re prepared when they get to high school and college. We run a college-based workout at practice to prepare them.”
One of the core implementations for these players in the increased focus on working out and athletic training. The players have been very receptive to the training and have bought into their coach’s philosophy of building their bodies to withstand an entire high school season.
“Extra workouts help us to get better as a player,” said Zach Miller. “Getting lifts in help us get stronger and pitch faster and hit harder.”
“I think it shows that all the work we do in the offseason and during the season pays off,” added Sam Stewart. “Like Zach (Miller) said the workouts seem hard but when we play these good teams it shows off.”
Player development has been the selling point for a lot of these players. They enjoy the experience of not only playing teams from all over and on an elite team, but the opportunity to train and develop into a better baseball player is too enticing of an offer to pass up.
“We work out a lot and the coaches help us get better,” said Jalen Hollins. “We work out three times a week and we do a lot of agility. We also get a lot of reps in, so that’s why I came.”
The players have enjoyed playing against elite competition. They get to showcase their talents while measuring themselves against competition from all over the country.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” said Baxley Holshouser. “It’s challenging because the teams are really good but it’s a good experience because it prepares you for high school and better competition.”
Playing against elite competition also helps the program. By competing in these national events, FBI is able to showcase their own talents in a competitive nature and to increase the awareness and exposure of their program. More exposure means that they will be more attractive to players and will be continuously building up their name.
“I love your events, PG does a great job with every tournament,” said Burks. “I’ve had no complaints. The main thing for us is getting our name out there, we’re a small organization, and we don’t get guys from Texas or Alabama. Getting our name out to tournaments in Florida and Georgia helps, especially when you’re winning. So it all helps out with the marketing of our organization and that results in getting more players to come play with us.”
Burks has been impressed with the growth of his team this summer season. One of the areas of growth he’s been witnessing has been the increased baseball IQ of his players. Knowing exactly what to do in every possible scenario is an invaluable skill that most baseball players have not mastered at this age.
“I’ve definitely seen them grow, especially this 14u group,” said Burks. “They all play middle school baseball so they’re able to get their reps in and their baseball IQ is off the charts. I’ve seen a lot of growth baseball IQ-wise, and as a coach I don’t need to be yelling every single pitch at every inning. The more games they play and practice has translated to them being a step ahead. When they think ahead, they can react. A couple of our guys came in and gained ten pounds over the summer. That’s the name of the game: hit the ball hard, throw hard, and make the plays when they’re hit to you.”
From a managerial perspective, Burks believes in an aggressive mentality on the field. He wants his pitchers to be crafty, his defense sharp, and his offense to capitalize on fastballs.
“I try to get only two guys throwing in one game, to save arms,” said Burks. “I want them to pound the zone and pitch backwards to guys, especially in the middle of the lineup. Have those hitters guessing and keep them off balance so the other hitters are guessing. We mix in and out with our defensive strategy. Outfield, infield these guys can play everywhere. Offensively, I love jumping on that fastball. If it’s something straight, they have to jump on it. More often than not they’re going to barrel something straight. I like to steal third a lot, especially if the pitcher has a big leg kick and isn’t looking over. I like to be aggressive on the basepaths and from the game flows from the aggressive mentality.”
Regardless of the outcome of this tournament, Burks and FBI have instilled an importance on development and getting better. This message gets across to the players as they all have great respect for Burks and the program.
“It’s a great leap forward for us, in baseball and our careers,” said Noah Cooper. “It helps as we move forward into high school baseball and potentially college baseball.”