FORT MYERS, Fla. – Two days of competition for the PG Super25 15u National Championship have come and gone with two teams standing out higher than the rest.
The Missouri Gators, fresh off a 2-0 day on Saturday, took down a potent East Cobb Astros club 8-6 on Sunday to run their pool play record to 3-0 in Pool A. SWFL Nation took both of their games Sunday scoring a combined 20 runs to move to 2-0-1 in Pool B action.
After a strong opening day of play in which the Gators put up 20 total runs in two victories, the Gators fell behind early 1-0 in the first inning, but used a two-run single by Nicholas Stiebler (2020, St. Louis, Mo.) and an RBI single by Trevor Austin (2020, Jefferson City, Mo.) in the third inning to take a 3-1 lead.
The Astros plated four runs in the top of the fourth to jump back ahead 5-3, but Steibler drove in his third run of the game on an infield hit in the fifth to close the gap to 5-4.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Gators worked a two-out rally and tied the game on an infield single by Nicholas Hemken (2020, Glen Carbon, Ill.). After another infield single, Noah Lampros (2020, Festus, Mo.) lined a double that scored two to put the Gators up 7-5. An error plated Lampros to make it 8-5, and Austin came on from shortstop to close the seventh on the mound to pick up the save.
The Gators will take on PA Playmakers-Kelley at 8:00 a.m. on Monday for their final game of pool play.
SWFL Nation, coming off a scoreless tie on Saturday against Intensity Baseball, broke out the bats in a big way in their first game Sunday with 15 hits and three runs in the second, five in the third and four in the fourth to close out Ninth Inning Royals-Bohana 12-0 in four innings.
Cole Cothern (2020, Plant City, Fla.) led the charge offensively going 3-for-3 with two doubles and driving in three runs. Micheal Ross (2020, Lakeland, Fla.) went 2-for-3 with a double also drove in three runs.
Drew Brutcher (2020, Lakeland, Fla.) tossed three scoreless frames, allowing only one hit while striking out three for SWFL.
In their second game of the day, SWFL matched up with the Keowee Cougars in another marquee matchup as the Cougars came in riding high after a 9-0 defeat of the Indiana Prospects on Saturday.
SWFL jumped all over the Cougars in the first inning, sending 10 men to the plate and pushing across six runs on six hits. The big blows came off the bats of Jake Thorne (2020, Naples, Fla.) who doubled home two runs and another scored on a throwing error and Sam Schner (2020, Boca Raton, Fla.) driving in two more runs with a single.
The Cougars would respond with two runs in the bottom half thanks to RBIs from brothers Trent and Hunter Land (2020, Seneca, S.C.) to make it 6-2 after an inning of play.
Keowee mounted a rally in the fifth scoring three times with Walker Lathrop (2020, Seneca, S.C.) doubling home two runs. He came around to score on a groundout to make it a one-run game.
SWFL immediately added to their lead in the top of the sixth, with Cothern, Brutcher and Schner factoring into the action. Cothern grounded a one-out single to center and Brutcher hammered a double to the wall in right field.
Lathrop robbed Chris Nuevas of extra bases with a diving catch in left center, but that brought Cothern in to score to make it 7-5. Schner doubled to left, bringing home Brutcher to give SWFL a three-run advantage.
Thorne tossed two scoreless innings of relief to pick up the save, putting SWFL in great position heading into the final day of pool play on Monday as they will take on Indiana Prospects at 10:15 a.m.