South Charlotte Panthers 2013 advanced to the Championship of the 17u World Series with a 4-1 victory over IYG Spiders.

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The Heat 16u defeated the Southeastern Stars 16u by a score of 10-1 in the final game at ECU. The Heat dominated both on the mound and in the batter’s box. They were lead by their starting pitcher Austin Staley (2014,Wilkes Central) who threw a complete game. Staley pounded the strike zone with a fastball sitting between 84-86 and topping out at 87. Staley also went 3-3 at the plate with a double and 3 rbi’s. Staley is a big-time prospect who should be followed closely in the coming months.

Adding offense was 1B Mason Strikeleather who added 2 hits and SS Josh McLain who had 2 hits including a triple and 2rbis.

The lone bright spot for the Stars was 2014 OF/RHP, Brodie Leftridge (St.John’s, DC). Leftridge had 2 hits including a double and shows incredible athleticism in the outfield.

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The Evoshield Canes North 16 and CBA Cutters 15u tied 2-2 in the 6:00 pm contest @ ECU. CBA jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on the strength of a 2rbi single by CBA 1B, Mark Saunders. Saunder finished the afternoon 1 -2.

For the Canes North, EH Brandon Padgett was a perfect 2-2 and drove in both the Canes runs on a double. Badgett added a late single to his day and showed a pull side approach with good plate coverage and a quick bat.

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The Carolina Cubs and the GBC prepstars 2014 played to a 0-0 tie in the 4pm game @ ECU. 2014 RHP Mason Keen pitched a complete game striking out 4 hitters using a 80-84 mph fastball topping out at 85 from a low 3/4 slot, and a 68-70 mph breaking ball. Keen has a tall lanky build with a clean arm action and plus movement on all his pitches.

Matching Keen was Prepstars RHP Matt Freeman. Freeman was anywhere from 78-82 showing a heavy ball that was hard to square up. Freeman struck out 5 hitters in his complete game effort giving up only 4 hits and walking 0 batters.

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The SBA Canes 2014 Black brought their bats to the ballpark today in a 10-1 victory over the Evoshield Canes Delmarva 15u team. Lead by Michael Henry’s(2014, INF) 3 run double the SBA Canes knocked out 10 total hits off 3 Canes pitchers.

On the other side  Alon Smith (2014, LHP) was very effective moving around the strikes zone and minimizing scoring opportunities with his 78-82 mph fastball that had late movement. Smith mixed in a 11 to 5 breaking ball with good depth that he threw effectively at 65-67 mph.

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The 12pm game between the Evoshield Canes South 15u and the Carolina Ravens Blue was a classic pitcher’s duel between 2015 RHP Josh Hiatt (EVCSouth15) and 2014 RHP Daniel Dulaney (CRB). Hiatt sat 80 – 83 topping out at 85 with a 72-74 mph cutter and and hard breaking 67-69 mph curve. Hiatt struck out 6 in his 5 innings of work.

Dulaney also sat 80 – 83 with his fastball topping at 85. Dulaney is a tall strongly built kid who drives off the mound at hitters and mixes in a sharp 67-68 mph curveball that could be define as a plus “out pitch”

In the end Carolina managed to scratch out a single run and Dulaney made it stand up striking out 5 Canes hitters in the process and scattering only 3 hits.

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The IYG Spiders and Pittsburg Dirtbags 17u played to a 0-0 tie. Starting pitchers Caleb Myers (RHP, IYG) and Drew Alvarez (LHP, PDBags) scattered hits throughout the afternoon and consistently worked out of jams with runners on base to keep their opponents off the scoreboard.

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The Evoshield Canes South 16u team used 6 consecutive hits to rally in the top of the 5th to defeat the FBI Fungo 15u by a score of 6-3. RHP Joe Ingle (2014, Terry Stanford) pitched a complete game for the Canes and worked out of jams to strand runners at 1st and 2nd in the bottom of the 4th and 5th frames.

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The Carolina Cubs 17u defeated the Tristate Arsenal 17u Grey by a score of 12-3. The Cubs wrapped out 12 hits including triples from CF Blake Bennett and DH Sammy West.

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The South Charlotte Panthers 2013 defeated the ODU Hitters Baseball club 16-17 by a score of 6-2. SC Panther 2013 Kirk Morgan (SS) had 3 hits and drove in a couple runs. Morgan has a smooth swing that produces solid barrel contact back up the box and to the middle of the park.

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The Evoshield Canes South 17u defeat the HV Orioles 2 – 1 behind a complete game performance from Canes 6’7″ starter Hunter Baker (2013, RHP). Baker used a heavy 83-84 mph fastball in combination with a good slider and feel for a change-up to punch out 8 Orioles hitters.

Matching Baker was Orioles LHP Cody Perrotti who scattered 4 hits over a complete game by using a 78-80 mph fastball that had late life and a plus change-up that kept hitters off balance.

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The Diamond Pros used a complete game performance from LHP Billy Griffin to pace themselves to a 7 – 3 victory over the Evoshield Canes North 17u team. Griffin scattered 10 hits over 6 innings by mixing speeds on his fastball, curve and change.

2 and 3 hole hitters Garrett Hudson (2013, INF) and Alex Gransback (2013, OF) went a combined 2 – 4 and 3 – 4 respectively. Gransback had 2 doubles and 2 RBIs. Relief pitcher Luke Simpson (2013, Tunstall, VA) threw 2 innings of scoreless relief sitting in the mid-80s with a 71 mph curveball.

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The South Charlotte Panthers defeated the Evoshield Canes Central 16u 5-2. SC Panther 14 Tommy Dejuneas (SS/RHP) showed well at the plate scoring 2 runs, on 2hits and a walk. DeJuneas has a quick right handed stick that stays on plane. DeJuneas also came in to pitch and worked out of two jams using a 82-84 mph fastball , 71-71 mph change and a 68-69 mph curveball.

For the Central Canes 2015 INF Vincent Addona really showed off the leather making 2 spectactular web gems one coming at 2nd base and the other when he was playing 3rd. Vincent is not a big player but made some big time plays and showed a strong arm at 3rd. Combined with a quick compact LH swing, Addona should be a player that markets above his size in the future.

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