EMERSON, Ga. – Perfect Game national championship tournament Rule No. 1: Never force a Dirtbag’s back to the wall. A cornered Dirtbag is an angry Dirtbag.
At the completion of Sunday’s first day of pool-play at the 16u Perfect Game World Series at Perfect Game Park South-LakePoint, the Sedalia, N.C.-based Dirtbags were a disconcerted bunch of Dirtbags. They had struggled to find any rhythm during a 2-2 tie with the Xtreme Tornadoes from North Fort Myers, Fla., then fell completely flat in a 5-1 loss to the Voorhees, N.J.-based Tri-State Arsenal.
The view from where the Dirtbags were standing when the second day of pool-play got under way Monday morning was that of a seemingly hopeless wasteland. In order to make the 16u PG World Series’ eight-team playoffs, the ‘Bags were going to have to beat, first, 643 DP Baseball Mang from nearby Marietta, Ga., and AZ T-Rex Baseball Club from faraway Scottsdale, Ariz.
Remember Rule No. 1? With their backs to the wall, the Dirtbags dumped 6-4-3 DP, 7-0, behind a complete-game, one-hitter from 2017 left-hander David Harrison. They followed that with a 6-3 a playoff-clinching win over AZ T-Rex, a game in which Nicholas Cooper doubled, singled and drove in two runs.
“We knew our backs were against the wall and we’d probably need a little bit of help (to get into the playoffs), and our guys came out the second day of pool-play and handled their business and really got after it,” Dirtbags head coach Lee Land said Tuesday morning. “That carried into (Monday), so we’re really riding some momentum right now and obviously feeling good about the position that we’re in, but we know there’s still a lot of work left to do.”
Monday did indeed bring more of the same from the resurgent Dirtbags, who entered the playoffs as the No. 7 seed. They topped the No. 2 Houston Banditos 8-4 in a first-round game in which Nick Jodaway drove in three runs with a triple and a sac fly. They then earned a non-stop ticket to the winner’s bracket semifinal game with a 4-0 “back-at-you” victory over No. 3 Tri-State behind a complete-game three-hitter from 2017 right-hander Landon Roupp.
Featuring a double-elimination playoff format, all five of the PG World Series’ require daily double-headers over the first three days of the five-day runs. That makes pitching depth and quality defensive play all the more important, especially at the end of a long summer season.
Arms are tired and pitching velocities are down, which means the defense is going to have to work all that much harder. Land estimates this Dirtbags team has played around 45 games this summer on the heels of long spring high school seasons, and the way the summer will be remembered all came down to how the team played here Sunday and Monday at the very end of this long road.
“They’ve really come together in the last 48 hours,” Land said. “They’re accepting roles, understanding their roles, believing in what we’re talking about as coaches and really buying into the Dirtbag program. If you take that first 24 hours out of the picture, the way we’ve played in the last 48 hours is what we expected of them and what they should have expected of themselves.”
This is a talented 16u team, one that was at the 16u PG WWBA National Championship here in Emerson earlier this month and went 7-0-0 in pool-play before dropping a 2-1 decision to the Elite Squad Prime in the first round of the playoffs.
Three 2017s and one 2016 have made commitments to NCAA Division-I programs and many more are sure to follow. 2017 outfielder Austin Beck from Clemmons, N.C., is the most prominent with a commitment to North Carolina-Chapel Hill and PG national prospect ranking of No. 11 (No. 1 in North Carolina).
“It’s been amazing being here with this group of guys,” Beck said Tuesday. “We had a lot of emotion in the dugout when we were playing (Monday). It didn’t help that we didn’t win our pool but we came out and fought hard and battled, and just ended up winning games.”
2017 Catcher/outfielder Bryson Worrell is ranked No. 328 nationally and 2017 outfielder Jeremy Whitehead comes in at No. 374, and both have committed to Eastern Carolina; 2016 infielder Josh Hallifield has committed to Virginia Military Institute. 2017 right-hander/third baseman Jacob is ranked 136th nationally and is uncommitted.
The Dirtbags were poised to face the No. 1-seeded Dallas Tigers from Coppell, Tex., in the first of what ended up to be two semifinal games Tuesday morning and afternoon. The Tigers lost their playoff-opener to the No. 8 Florida Burn but battled back with loser’s bracket victories Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning to reach the semifinals, and beat the Dirtbags 6-3 to force the “if necessary” game.
Before the first game, the Dirtbag players were both upbeat and determined.
“It’s just fun to be a part of this with all the talent down here,” 2017 right-hander Chase Chandler said before being handed the ball to make the start. “The fact that we’re here competing and are part of the final four, it’s awesome. … I think we all enjoy the game and then you have all these people down here that are so good at it … and it’s just a lot (better) competition than we’re used to.”
This is the 10th year Land has been with the Dirtbags organization and founder/owner Andy Partin. He’s worked with all of the program’s age-group teams through the years and was appointed to be this team for the 16u PG World Series.
“There is some of the best talent in the country down here and they’re all together on (25) teams,” he said. “You find out a lot about your program and about the guys that are within your program and how they’re going to compete and respond. When you’re facing that caliber of talent there’s going to be adversity and that’s the game of baseball – how do you handle adversity, how do you overcome, how do you make the next adjustment.”
Ever since Partin founded the Dirtbags Baseball organization in 2002, he has seen nearly 600 of his alumni move on to play college baseball, more than 160 have been drafted by Major League Baseball teams and 17 have moved on to the big leagues, including 2013 American League Rookie of the Year Wil Myers. When Land was asked Tuesday morning what the single ideal the Dirtbags’ coaches try to impress on their young players, he didn’t hesitate with his reply.
“Get after it,” he said. “Play the game the right way, play it hard – what more can you ask? That’s really what we preach, and these guys are going out there and doing it.”
At the end of the day Tuesday, despite all the resiliency the Dirtbags had shown by winning four straight games to advance to the 16u PGWS winner’s bracket semifinals, it was the Dallas Tigers that showed the most resiliency when they, too, had their backs to the wall.
The Tigers (8-1-0) blew open a 3-2 game with four runs in the top of the seventh to beat the Dirtbags, 7-2, in the loser’s bracket semifinal game – their third win of the day – and will face No. 4 Team Elite (6-2-0) in Wednesday morning’s championship game.
When asked what he hopes his young players take away from the 16u PG World Series experience, Land said simply that he hopes they leave knowing they belonged here. He wants them to know how honored they should feel playing with the name “Dirtbags” across their chest, and he feels confident this group has bought into the tradition and understands what the name means. It appears they do.
“When you think about all the other people that have put it on, and the fact that you get to put it on every morning when you come out here, it’s awesome to think about,” Chandler said. And then, before he knew Tuesday would end with two straight losses, he too reflected on what he would take away from this PG national championship event.
“I hope we can look back and know that we had fun, we played hard and we did our best,” he said. “You can see where everyone else is at this level, talent-wise, and where you need to be to keep progressing to the next level.”