Orlando Baseball Academy made it to the 16U Labor Day Classic Championship by beating the South Florida Stingers 7-5 in the semi-finals Monday morning. Orlando Baseball Academy was lead to the Championship by Austin Hale hitting .667, Jack Shenton hitting .333, and Codey Conway hitting .333 leading up to the Championship game. Brandon Stratton earned the win in the semi-finals for Orlando Baseball Academy allowing 5 runs on 10 hits walking 2 and striking out 9 to earn the win.
The Tampa Bay Warriors got to the championship game by upsetting the number one overall seed in the tournament SWFL 16U 9-5. Pacing the Warriors on offense are Chase Turner hitting .714, Eddie Goscicki is hitting .692, and Devon Woodward hitting .600. On the mound the Warriors are lead by Chris Jordan who hasn’t allowed a run in the tournament also earning a win, and Gideon Dunn who hasn’t given up a run for the Warriors yet as well.
With each team scoring a run in the first inning the Warriors came back in the top of the second scoring 5 runs on 6 hits with Kevin Cramer, Chase Turner and Eddie Goscicki each getting an RBI in the inning. Orlando Baseball Academy scored some runs in of their own in the bottom of the inning cutting into the 6-1 lead by scoring 3 runs on 3 hits with 2 walks and a hit batter. Jeffery Crisan and Codey Conway each had RBI’s in the inning. Orlando Baseball Academy had runners on second and third with 1 out Jack Shenton hit a liner that looked destined for LCF and 2 RBI’S but SS Chris Cooper made leaping catch and doubled off Codey Conway to end the threat.
The Warriors added some insurance runs in the top of the 3rd and 4th innings in a variety of ways. In the 3rd inning Jack McVicker hit a triple to start the inning for the Warriors and after a Kevin Cramer walk Marcus Guzman hit an RBI Single to push the lead to 4. In the fourth inning Jack McVicker and Kevin Cramer each walked with the bases loaded to push the lead to 6 and to finish off the scoring in the top of the 4th Devon Woodward grounded into a RBI fielder’s choice groundout to make it a 7 run lead.
The Orlando Baseball Academy wouldn’t go away quietly though as they tried to put up a comeback effort in the 6th inning. Brandon Stratton and Mitch Allen started off the inning with hits after a walk to Austin Hale and a wild pitch that scored Stratton, Jeffrey Crisan hit a 2-run double to pull Orlando Baseball Academy within 4 runs. Ryan Dolan finally settled down in the 6th inning and with a runner on second and no outs got the next 3 hitters out 2 of them by flying out and 1 on a groundout.
In the top of the 7th inning the Tampa Bay Warriors answered back with 2 runs of their own on a 2 out 2-run single by Walker Burgess to make the score 13-7. Orlando Baseball Academy got their 1st 2 hitters on to start the 7th and scored a run when Mitch Allen Reached on an error to make the game 13-8 with runners on 1st and 2nd with one out. Ryan Dolan was able to bounce back after the error and get the next 2 batters out 1 with a strikeout and the final out on a groundball to end the game and give the Tampa Bay Warriors a 13-8 win for the inaugural 16U Labor Day Classic.
Eddie Goscicki went 12-16 in the tournament for the Tampa Bay Warriors to earn Most Valuable Player Honors. Goscicki had 3 doubles, 1 triple, 9 RBI’s, 7 runs scored and 3 walks during the tournament. In the Championship game Goscicki went 3-3 with 1 run scored, 2 RBI’S, 2 walks and 1 double to pace the offensive output for the Warriors.
Chris Jordan earned most valuable pitching honors throwing 5 scoreless innings for the Tampa Bay Warriors. Jordan earned a win in the tournament to go along with only allowing 2 unearned runs, on 2 hits with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts. Jordan got the win in the second game of the tournament which kept the Warriors hope alive for a playoff berth because of a first game tie with the South Florida Stingers.