FORT MYERS, Fla. – For a team that hails from Chattanooga and doesn’t venture into Florida too often for Perfect Game events, the eXposure 15u Prime turned plenty of heads at the Southeast Championship. Dominating through pool play by putting up 40 runs in four games, eXposure survived a nail biter in the semifinals before defeating FTB Gulf Coast 9-5 in the championship game to cap a perfect 6-0 mark.
Leading the PC Lions 6-0 through five innings in Sunday morning’s semifinal, eXposure had defensive miscues which led to a six-run Lion inning to tie the game, but eXposure took advantage of a Lion error to forge back ahead and win 7-6 to get to the championship game.
eXposure had more adversity to climb up as FTB scored two first inning runs, but some heady baserunning on a failed double play attempt from FTB resulted in two runs to even the score.
In the second, eXposure leadoff man Donavon Sims (2019, Cohutta, Ga.) continued his strong tournament by driving a two-run double to the right-center field gap as part of a three-run inning to give eXposure a 5-2 advantage.
After FTB got a run back in the top of the third, eXposure added on four more runs, with Sims driving in another run on a sacrifice fly and Christian Martin’s RBI double aiding the cause.
Gehrig Ebel (2020, Signal Mountain, Tenn.) was excellent in relief on the mound, as the Mississippi State commit kept the FTB bats quiet after coming on in the fifth. He allowed a lone run in the seventh, but closed it out to send eXposure back north with a trophy.
“Having to play six games in three days, the boys really had to battle and we had a lot of guys step up on the mound,” eXposure head coach Brandon Roberts said.
Martin (2020, Bean Station, Tenn.) took home MVP honors, with a .563 (9-for-16) average and eight RBI.
“Christian had a great tournament and Donavon at the top of the lineup was a spark plug for us. I’m proud of all of our guys.”
Diego Andres Cardenas Pena (2019, East Ellenton, Fla.) claimed the Most Valuable Pitcher award for FTB, as he threw six shutout innings and struck out nine in his lone start of the event.
2017 15u PG Southeast Championship runner-up: FTB Gulf Coast
2017 15u PG Southeast Championship MVP: Christian Martin
2017 15u PG Southeast Championship MV-Pitcher: Diego Andres Cardenas Pena
In the 18u Southeast Championship, Next Level Baseball and Xtreme Upperclass had to withstand close semifinal contests to meet in the championship. Next Level Baseball would win that game 3-1 as runs were at a premium.
In the first, NLB fell behind after an RBI single off the bat of Louis Alberro, scoring Matt McGarty to put Xtreme Upperclass up 1-0. That would be the lone run NLB would surrender as they got a strong outing from Tyler Borges (2019, Tallahassee, Fla.) on the mound while the offense turned the tide.
Borges led off the third with a double and came around to score on a sacrifice fly and Logan Lacey’s RBI double put NLB out in front 2-1.
In the fifth, NLB got an insurance run thanks to another RBI double off the bat of Dallen Leach (2018, Tallahassee, Fla.) to make it 3-1.
Lacey and Nick Ferara tossed scoreless innings of relief after Borges went five innings to cap off a title-winning week for NLB.
In the semifinals Next Level Baseball needed nine innings to defeat Tallahassee Post 13 7-6, while Xtreme Upperclass took down Tornadoes Baseball 3-2.
NLB’s Nicky Agosto earned the Most Valuable Pitcher, as he went 2-0 with a 0.80 ERA and struck out 10 in 8 1/3 innings.
Kevin Long took the MVP of the event for the victors, as he batted .438 (7-for-16) and drove in six runs.
2017 18u PG Southeast Champions: Next Level Baseball
2017 18u PG Southeast Championship runner-up: Xtreme Underclass
2017 18u PG Southeast Championship MVP: Kevin Long
2017 18u PG Southeast Championship MV-Pitcher: Nicky Aogsto
