EMERSON, Ga. – The 15u WWBA National Championship kicks off the WWBA tournament series this summer. The event will be held from June 20-27, and it will take place at Perfect Game Park South at LakePoint, as well as a variety of other local high school fields and baseball complexes in the area.
This is the 12th edition of this event, and it will provide a 184-team tournament, which will bring in some of the top programs in the entire country. The field is made up of teams from 24 states including Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Maryland, South Carolina, New York, North Carolina, Florida, Connecticut, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Washington, California, and Missouri.
Last year’s tournament saw the Dulin Dodgers 15u defeat the Lids Indiana Bulls Black 9-0 to win the title. The Dulin Dodgers are back this year looking to repeat as champions.
A variety of talented players will be making the trip down to the Atlanta-area to showcase their skills in hopes to take home a national championship. The Houston Banditos Black comes into the tournament with a couple of highly rated 2016 prospects in Landon Miner (No. 102, uncommitted), Dylan Bohnert (No. 175, uncommitted), and Tucker Bradley (top 1000, uncommitted). They also have a pair of 2017 class players that should be closely watched including Terrence Spurlin and Alex Scherff.
There are a handful of players in this tournament who have already committed to play baseball for NCAA Division One college programs. These players include 2016s Mickey Moniak (No. 10, UCLA commit) of the San Diego Show and Colin Peluse (Top 1000, Wake Forest commit) of the Evoshield Canes South. The 2017s include Noah Campbell (South Carolina commit), Mikey Polansky (Virginia Tech commit), and Ashton McGee (North Carolina commit) also of the Evoshield Canes South, Jordon Adell (Louisville commit) of the Midland Tribe, Tyler Ahearn (FSU commit) of the PBC Pal, Ben Ramirez (Southern California commit) of the San Diego Show, and Shane Shifflett (UCF commit) of Xtreme Baseball 15u Navy.
Along with their committed players, the Evoshield Canes South have a trio of 2017 high follow players including Brandon Dorsey, Seth Caddell, and Matt Oldham.
The USA Elite Baseball Red and the Georgia Jackets have a wealth of talent. The USA Elite Baseball Red are lead by a standout 2017 class of high follows including Joe Lancellotti, Conor Larkin, Shane Muntz, and Cameron Van Hoorebeke. The Georgia Jackets, a local Atlanta team, will also showcase three high follow 2017s including Weston Bizzle, Kooper Briley, and Cameron Turley. Look for both teams to make a deep run in the tournament.
Another team that has a ton of firepower that will showcase their talent in this tournament is the Elite Squad 15u Prime. They are led by 2017 grad Alejandro Toral, who was invited to this year’s Perfect Game Junior National Showcase. Other notable 2017s on the team include Daniel Federman, Joseph Perez, Jordan Schulefand, and Anthony Boix.
The Bronx Bombers from New York are not a team to sleep on either. They have talent in bunches and are led by a strong 2017 class including Jason Pineda, Malik Lissone Brown, and Kai Nelson.
Another local team that should have a close eye kept on them is the 6-4-3 DP Cougars 15u out of Marietta, GA. They are led by 2016-grad Grayson Harbin (top 1000) and 2017 high follows Kyle Jacobsen, Ryan Webb, and Drake Murray.
2016s Jacob Abbott (No. 50, uncommitted), who was invited to the Perfect Game Junior National Showcase this year, from Kentucky Baseball Club-Clary and Rylee Buckmaster (No. 215, uncommitted) of the Florida Burn 2017 Pennant are two other notable players in this event.
Some of the other notable 2017 high follow players who will be in attendance this week include Jordan Butler from Xtreme Baseball 15u Navy, Brandon Jenkins from the Tri-State Arsenal 15u Blue, Nicholas Storz from Team Elite Prime, Bryce Bowen from Team Elite Silver, Kyle Hurt and Matthew Rudick from the San Diego Show, Reese Albert from PBC Pal, David Bedgood from ABD Texas, Trent Vietmeier and Nicholas Candelari from Marucci Elite Houston, Ben Jordan from the Kentucky Baseball Club-Clary, Cyrus Stewart from the Florida Burn 2017 Pennant, Brady Scott from the East Cobb Astros 15u, Hugh Fisher from the Dulin Dodgers, Malik Spratling from Chain Stealth, Cole Brannen from Chain Black, Tanner Burns from the Adrenaline Elite, and Tristen Lutz from the Academy Select Sun Devils-Ingram.
All of the WWBA National Championships will be played at LakePoint throughout the remainder of the summer. Here is the schedule for the rest of the WWBA tournaments:
• June 27 – July 4: 18u WWBA National Championship
• July 4 – July 11: 17u WWBA National Championship
• July 11 – July 18: 16u WWBA National Championship
• July 18 – July 25: 14u WWBA National Championship
The 12u BCS Finals also kicks off this week in the Atlanta-Metropolitan area. This event will start on Thursday, June 17 and go until Tuesday, June 24. The tournament will be held at the East Cobb Complex in Marietta, Ga. as teams from Georgia, South Carolina, Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Florida, North Carolina, and Puerto Rico vie for a BCS title.