Box Score
SAN
DIEGO – For the third consecutive year the West team defeated the
East, this year doing so by a final score of 8-6 to pull ahead in the
all-time series 6-4-1.
Hickman,
Neb. native Jakson Reetz was named the game MVP by going 2-for-4 with
two runs driven in, one run scored and three of the eight stolen bases by the West squad. Reetz had the biggest hit of
the evening, drilling a 94 mph fastball from Dylan Cease to the fence
in right-centerfield for an RBI double in the top of the second
inning.
"I'm
really honored to be one of the guys to get this (award), playing
with the 50 best guys in the nation," Reetz said after accepting
his MVP trophy from Classic Honorary Chairman Trevor Hoffman. "This
has been a great experience for me and I just have to keep working
hard and keep going with my career.
"This
has been awesome and very inspiring, getting to see those kids at the
Rady Children's Hospital, and I couldn't have asked for a better
experienced ... and I just had fun playing baseball with these guys
and it was an awesome experience for me."
Reetz'
run-scoring double was the second of the inning for the West, pulling
ahead for the time being with a 2-1 lead.
The
early innings proved to be a see-saw affair for both squads after
Grant Holmes opened the game with an easy 1-2-3 inning for the East.
The East struck first in the bottom of the first against Brady Aiken,
when Braxton Davidson hit a sac fly to left field scoring Nick
Gordon, who reached on an infield single as the team's leadoff
hitter.
After
the West scored their two runs in the top of the second, the East
responded with two more of their own in the bottom of the frame.
Ti'Quan Forbes, who had a pair of hits in the event's scrimmage on
Friday night, his a sharp RBI single through the right side of the
infield, and then scored another run on a double-steal by Forbes and
Carl Chester.
Down
two runs in the top of the fifth, the West scratched three runs
across to secure a lead they would not relinquish. Jakson Reetz
reached on an error which scored Jack Flaherty, and Marcus Wilson
scored on a wild pitch as part of a walk issued to Monte' Harrison.
Another double steal with Jakson Reetz crossing homeplate pushed the
game to 5-3.
The
East answered with another run in the bottom of the fourth. Michael
Chavis hit a rocket single up the middle with two outs, stole second,
advanced to third on the throw and then scored on a wild pitch.
In
the top of the sixth the West extended the lead to three runs.
With
one out, Trenton Kemp hit a hard single up the middle. Alex Jackson
followed Kemp's single up the middle with one of his own, and Derek
Hill, who pinch ran for Kemp, scored on a hard infield single that
Jacob Gatewood hit right back at the pitcher Joe Gatto. Stone
Garrett hit a fielder's choice that resulted in no outs and scored
Jackson.
The
end of the scoring for the West came in the top of the ninth when
D.J. Peters ripped an RBI single to right field, scoring Darius Day.
Proving
they still had fight left in them, the East scored single tallies in
both the bottom of the eighth and ninth innings to make things
interesting.
Reese
Cooley hit an RBI groundout in the eighth scoring Justus Sheffield,
who pinch ran for Chase Vallot after he ripped a double down the left
field line to open the frame.
Michael
Gettys recorded a double of his own with one out in the ninth,
hitting a laser to centerfield and then turning on the jets to leg
out a hustle double. He scored on a wild pitch with two outs.
After
the last out was recorded, the West and East teams quickly converged
to the pitching mound to re-create the double dog-pile from a year
ago, in what is proving to be a tradition at the Perfect Game
All-American Classic.
Eighteen
of the 19 pitchers that took the mound threw 91 or harder, with nine
of those pitchers (Tyler Kolek,
Dylan Cease, Touki Toussaint, Grant Holmes, Kodi Medeiros, Brandon
Murray, Luis Ortiz, Sean Reid-Foley, Zack Shannon) touching at least
95 mph. Kolek's 99 mph fastball set an event record, previously set
at 98 by Mychal Givens in 2008.
In
addition to Grant Holmes' clean top of the first inning, Kodi
Medeiros (bottom of the third), Cobi Johnson (top of the fourth),
Sean Reid Foley (top of the seventh) and David Peterson (bottom of
the seventh) all pitched perfect frames. Johnson and Reid-Foley both
struck out the side.
Mac
Marshall also faced the minimum after Scott Hurst, who reached on a
walk, was gunned down on the base-paths attempting to steal third
base.
Keaton
McKinney, who struck out three of the four batters he faced in the
bottom of the fourth inning, picked up the win, while Zack Shannon,
who struck out Nick Gordon to end the game, earned the save.
You
can follow all of the event's activities by reading the Perfect Game
All-American Classic event blog, with links to
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and Flickr
feeds.
Congratulations
to all of the players, coaches, scouts, friends, family members,
sponsors, partners and fans for making the 2013 Perfect Game
All-American Classic another successful event.