FORT MYERS, Fla. – Many of the same cast of characters were back in town Friday morning, back in this city of beautifully groomed baseball fields that provided the backdrop for so many thrills and really only one hard-to-swallow spill.
It was a year ago that Team Elite Prime 14u made a strong run for the championship at the 2015 14u PG BCS Finals, and on Friday many of the same players from that team gathered at the jetBlue Park Player Development Complex to see if they can do the same thing over the next seven days at this year’s 15u PG BCS Finals. The same thing, that is, plus one more step.
Seventy-three teams have gathered in Lee County, Fla., for the 11th annual 15u PG BCS Finals, and Team Elite 15’s Prime – based in Winder, Ga., but with a roster featuring prospects from six states, including Georgia – looks to be among the best – its roster features seven prospects from the class of 2019 ranked in the top-76 nationally.
The 15’s Prime got the ball rolling right off the bat Friday, racing to a 6-1 lead after three innings before dispensing of the MASI Warducks out of Claremore, Okla., 9-1 in five innings, in the first of their five pool-play games over the next five days.
“It was an 8 a.m. game so it was a good way to come out and get the first one out of the way and get the first win,” Marc Nellist, who serves as co-manager of Team Elite 15’s Prime with Brooke Richards, said after the victory. “Some of (the players) were a little nervous with it being their first 15u event. And this is the first (PG national) championship event – a ring event – that we’ve played in so far this season, and lot of these guys are returners from the second-place team last year. They know what it would mean to get a ring.”
In fact, four players that were named to the 2015 14u PG BCS Finals all-tournament team started for the ‘15’s Prime Friday: 2019s Landon Sims, Raymond Torres and Mason Land, and 2018 Jeff Jenkins. Land was 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored and Sims was the starting pitcher, allowing only one unearned run on one hit with nine strikeouts and four walks in four innings.
Sims is a 6-foot, 165-pound right-hander from Cumming, Ga., who is ranked 40th in the class of 2019 and who had last pitched a week ago at a USA Baseball event over in Jupiter, Fla. He said felt “OK” during his outing Friday morning.
“We could have done better (although) we hit the ball pretty good,” Sims said. “I threw way too many balls; I had four walks. I had nine strikeouts, though, which is good, but four walks are way too much. I usually don’t have that many.”
Team Elite 15’s Prime scored its nine runs on eight hits with 2019 Chris Mcelvain contributing a double, two RBI and a run scored, Isaac Nunez a double and an RBI and Nolan Crisp a triple and a run. Those guys are also part of that long list of highly ranked players on the 15’s Prime’s roster.
The list of 2019s starts with No. 17 right-hander Sam Wibbels (Hastings, Neb.), who will pitch Sunday; No. 24 right-hander and third baseman Crisp (McDonough, Ga.), who will pitch Saturday; No. 40 right-hander and outfielder Sims; No. 52 shortstop Nunez (New York City); No. 53 catcher Torres (Charlotte, N.C.) and No. 73 third baseman Zach Smith (Winder, Ga.). Mcelvain has committed to Vanderbilt, Nunez to St. John’s and Smith to Mississippi.
Last year, Team Elite Prime 14u advanced to the championship game at the 14u PG BCS Finals where it lost to the Warriors Baseball Club of Michigan, 7-4. Sims was the starter and hard-luck loser for the Prime 14u, giving up five unearned runs thanks to five errors, but also allowing four hits and three walks in 2 2/3 innings of work. A 2½-hour lightning delay interrupted the action and the Prime 14u were knocked off their game; the players view this year’s tournament as a chance to redeem themselves.
“We could have won it last year so we’re going to try to go out there and win it this year,” Sims said. “We’re really looking forward to it.”
This 15u team is a blend of the old and the new. Nellist and Richards have added some key pieces to their already talent-laden group and Nellist said he honestly believes the team has been upgraded at every position. And, he said, “It’s nice to have so many guys back from that (runner-up) team; they’ve been here before.”
One of the newcomers is Nunez, an exuberant, 5-10, 160-pound shortstop who seems to be wrapped in a constant buzz of activity. Nunez wasn’t part of that runner-up team from a year ago but already feels like one of the family.
“Knowing what our team has done in the past, I’m just coming in hoping I can add something to the team,” he said. “I’ve never played with any of these guys before but everybody acts like I have. We act like we’ve been together for about five years already; that’s the best part. It’s good we can share these moments at Perfect Game together.”
Nellist, too, commented on the camaraderie this team has developed in a relatively short time together. It’s a group that likes to have fun, and even though there are times they act like 15-year-olds and need to be held in a check, it’s a good group that plays hard together and has really meshed well on and off the field.
It is also a group that wants to win, and a top prospect like Nunez knows winning at a tournament like the 15u PG BCS Finals is just another way of making the event all the more fun: “Just being here with this team and getting this experience, it’s something that (no other player) has; it’s fun to be here,” he said. “Playing the games is the best part and I’m looking forward to experiencing it. I’m going to have fun here with a bunch of the guys I know and love.”
Team Elite 15’s Prime will play four more pool-play games over the next four days with the goal of winning those and being one of 24 teams to advance to the playoffs – and then one of two to make it to the championship game.
It’s not an easy assignment by any means, but then it never is. There are other teams in this field that can match Team Elite 15’s Prime prospect-for-prospect, including Scorpions 2019 Prime (Altamonte Springs, Fla.), Georgia Jackets National (Alpharetta, Ga.), Elite Squad 15u Prime (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) and Chain National-Moss (Warner Robins, Ga.) to name but four. Nellist thinks the tournament format might play right into Team Elite 15’s Prime’s hands.
“It definitely helps you set up all the arms, and to be honest with you I think on paper we’ve got the best (15u) pitching staff in the country,” he said. “But we’ve got to go out there and perform, as well, and the structure of this tournament definitely helps us do that. The guys we throw early can come back fully rested and that’s our goal. Just get to bracket-play and whatever happens, happens once you get there.”