THE WORLD'S LARGEST AND MOST COMPREHENSIVE SCOUTING ORGANIZATION
| 2,384 MLB PLAYERS | 15,805 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
2,384 MLB PLAYERS | 15,805 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
Sign in Create Account
Tournaments  | Story | 9/27/2019

Cangelosi Splits Day 1 in Florida

Photo: CJ Byrdak (Perfect Game)

FORT MYERS, Fla. – There are a lot of teams in Fort Myers, Fla. this weekend for the WWBA Sophomore World Championships that call Florida or Georgia their home.

Cangelosi Sparks 2022 Black is not one of them. The Sparks call Lockport, Ill. home. The team spends most of its time winning a bunch of games and tournaments back home in the Midwest, including the Midwest Freshman Championship a year ago in Iowa.

An early Thursday morning flight and a long day of travel made for an interesting Friday morning game down in Fort Myers, however.

You know that saying that goes something like, “You’re only as good as your next day’s starting pitcher.” It applied here.

A good performance on the mound woke everyone up. CJ Byrdak, Most Valuable Pitcher at this same WWBA Sophomore World Championship a year ago, delivered that performance for the team, and the Sparks won, 8-2.

“It was a little different, coming all the way down here from Illinois,” Byrdak said. “We had a 4:00 am flight [Thursday], got here around noon. So then coming out today and pitching, it was long and tiring, but I felt like I got in a groove.”

Byrdak didn’t give Cangelosi a ton of length – he only pitches 2 2/3 innings due to pitch limit restrictions. But he battled when the team needed him. Two fielding errors caused problems for Byrdak in the top of the second inning, and Cangelosi gave up two runs in the frame – both unearned for Byrdak.

He got a strikeout to end the inning and the damage.

“He didn’t get down,” head coach Tim Byrdak, CJ’s father, said. “We had a couple mishaps there in the second inning, but he was aggressive on the mound and that’s what we like to see out of him.”

Significant damage had been done, however. Not necessarily on the scoreboard; the two-run second inning for Tri State Arsenal only tied the game at 2-2. But the game felt sloppy all of a sudden.

The speed of the game slowed way down. Both teams were playing tight. Opening game at one of the biggest tournaments of the year, with two teams from Illinois and New Jersey. A little tightness is to be expected.

Cangelosi went scoreless in the bottom of the second inning, but Brydak grabbed momentum back when he struck out the first two batters of the third inning, before being lifted to preserve his availability. Noah Schultz, who came in to replace Byrdak, picked up a strikeout to end the inning.

Teams want shutdown innings right after they hang a crooked number on the scoreboard. Tri State Arsenal had one right after they tied the game. Brydak and Schultz’s combined frame, however, in which they struck out the side, felt more important in the moment.

And it turned out to be.

Nate Voss, a Michigan Wolverine commit, started the bottom of the third with a triple over the left fielder’s head that almost cleared the fence. After a hit-by-pitch and walk, Beau Polickey smacked a double down the third base line that scored two and gave the lead back to the Sparks.

Two batters later, Byrdak delivered a two-RBI single to push the lead to 6-2. Cangelosi would add one more in the frame and another in the bottom of the fifth inning to secure the 8-2 win to open up pool play.

Coach Byrdak said he gathered up the guys after the second inning lapse, and felt like the team took what he said to heart.

“We just talked about the pace of the game,” he said. “It looked like after we made a couple errors that we really tried to slow the game down. I just told them they control the pace of the game, and that we could come back and score a couple quick ones. We want to try to control the game as much as we can from the first inning to the last.”

Cangelosi couldn’t get any sort of rally together in Game 2 on Friday. They lost, 3-1, to Team All-American, who is 2-0 in the pool after one day.

It was a matter of not stringing anything together consistently. The Sparks put together quite a few hard-hit baseballs, but seemingly none were back-to-back, and most were right at defenders.

Voss started the seventh inning with a double over the center fielder’s head – his fourth extra-base hit of the day – and came around the score on George Bilecki’s RBI single. But the rally fizzled out after that.

A diving catch in center field robbed Cangelosi of another baserunner and a sliding, over-the-shoulder catch in foul territory at first base ended the game just as Team All American’s starting pitcher, Jake Rupp, hit the pitch max.

Rupp ended up tossing seven innings, giving up six hits and the one earned run, along with four strikeouts.

The six hits were spread out just enough, which is the opposite of what Coach Byrdak got out of his squad in their first game.

“That’s the thing that the kids have to understand,” Brydak said after Game One, regarding his team’s crisp play. “If they play good defense and they get timely hits and that stuff, that helps out with pitching and really helps out in the long run.”




Tournaments | Story | 1/27/2026

MLK East Scout Notes Recap

Perfect Game Staff
Article Image
‘28 OF Jakob Groeschel (OH) continues to impress with the bat on the circuit, picked up 2 2Bs in the first game today. Really athletic, went 4.4 on turn; easy to dream on all the traits. #MLKEast @PG_OhioValley pic.twitter.com/wOIwnGKnkg — Perfect Game Florida (@Florida_PG) January 17, 2026 2028 OF Jakob Groeschel (Springfield, Ohio) broke out at this event last year hitting a casual .909, and although he didn’t turn in quite the same performance, he hit a strong .462 with 4 extra-base hits, 5 walks, 5 bags and only struck out once. He’s a pretty dynamic athlete who can do a lot of things well, but the bat is the calling card as he just lives on the barrel and has no problem handling all kinds of pitching. It’s a simple swing, but he’s got fast hands and he can really impact the ball without being overly physical yet.  2030 RHP Michael Vazquez...
Draft | Rankings | 3/20/2026

2026 Draft Board: Top 300

Vincent Cervino
Article Image
The 2026 MLB Draft class is shaping up to be one of the better in recent memory and, potentially, the best class in the last decade. It’s led by UCLA superstar shortstop Roch Cholowsky, a true five-tool prospect who’s the early favorite for 1:1. One of the most popular pieces of industry feedback when constructing this list was some variation of “Roch is too low” or “go up on Roch” and he’s the best college prospect since 2019 when Adley Rutschman (Oregon State, Orioles) was the consensus No. 1 prospect. Similarly to 2019, there’s a superstar Texas prep shortstop at No. 2, in 2019 it was Bobby Witt Jr. (Colleyville Heritage, Royals) and this year it’s Grady Emerson. Both Emerson and Alabama’s Justin Lebron would have been solid 1:1 candidates in years where Roch Cholowsky is not eligible and both have All-Star potential....
Press Release | Press Release | 3/19/2026

PG Teams Up with OZ Ball Tournaments PTY

Perfect Game Staff
Article Image
  667 Progress Way | Sanford, FL 32771 | 319-298-2923 www.perfectgame.org | facebook.com/perfectgameusa | @PerfectGameUSA     FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   PERFECT GAME NAMES OZ BALL TOURNAMENTS PTY AS OFFICIAL AREA DIRECTOR IN AUSTRALIA, EXPANDING GLOBAL FOOTPRINT   Sanford, Florida (Thursday, March 19, 2026) - Perfect Game, the world’s largest youth baseball and softball platform and scouting service, today announced that it has entered into a new international partnership with Oz Ball Tournaments Pty, naming the organization as an official Perfect Game Area Director in Australia. The agreement establishes Perfect Game-licensed tournaments and showcases across major Australian markets, including Sydney, Brisbane/Gold Coast, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.     Australian events will operate under the Perfect Game brand, delivering the same...
Press Release | Press Release | 3/18/2026

PG Introduces Individual Player Entry

Perfect Game Staff
Article Image
  667 Progress Way | Sanford, FL 32771 | 319-298-2923 www.perfectgame.org | facebook.com/perfectgameusa | @PerfectGameUSA     FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   PERFECT GAME INTRODUCES INDIVIDUAL PLAYER ENTRY, EXPANDING ACCESS TO ELITE NATIONAL EVENTS   Athletes Can Now Compete in Select National Tournaments Through Structured ‘Team PG’ Rosters   Sanford, Florida (Wednesday, March 18, 2026) - Perfect Game, the world’s largest youth baseball and softball platform and scouting service, today announced the launch of Individual Player Entry, a new initiative designed to provide athletes the opportunity to compete in select national events even if their primary team is not attending.   Through the program, players can now register individually and be placed on a structured “Team PG” roster, allowing them to participate fully in...
Juco | Rankings | 3/18/2026

JUCO Top 25: March 18

Blaine Peterson
Article Image
This week brings a new top team to the rankings as Johnson County (KS), on the strength of 10 consecutive wins and a 26-2 record, claims the overall number 1 spot. The Cavaliers have made 3 consecutive trips to the JUCO World Series and have the talent to make it back there again this spring. Florida Southwestern and Chipola have seemingly separated themselves as the most consistent teams in Florida. Welcome to the top 5 to the Gaston Rhinos who will be one of the first teams to 30 wins this spring. Pearl River stays as the top NJCAA D2 team and Fresno City stays as the top Juco team in California; both are coming off undefeated 2 week stretches. Welcome back to the top 25 to John A. Logan who is now 20-7 overall and have played one of the toughest schedules of anyone. And for the first time in several years welcome to the top 25 to the College of Southern Idaho, the Golden Eagles have...
High School | General | 3/18/2026

Class of 2026: Preseason HS All-Americans

Perfect Game Staff
Article Image
College | Rankings | 3/18/2026

DII/DIII/NAIA Rankings Update: March 18

Nick Herfordt
Article Image
In every major sport, the championship is decided in the postseason. You can lose games all year, get hot at the right time, and walk away with the hardware. The regular season is a rehearsal. The playoffs are the show.  The championship belt changes that. Borrowed from professional wrestling, boxing and ultimate fighting, the belt travels the moment the holder loses — no brackets, no seeding, no second chances. A random Tuesday non-conference game in Milledgeville, Georgia  becomes a title fight. A spring trip to Florida becomes a gauntlet. The defending national champion can lose the belt before February is over.  We’re tracking three belts this season — NCAA Division II, NAIA, and NCAA Division III — each starting with the defending national champion. The results have been exactly as chaotic as you’d expect.  Worth noting along the...
High School | Rankings | 3/17/2026

High School Top 50 Update: March 17

Tyler Russo
Article Image
We have another update to the National Top-50 after two weeks of even more games being played in the southern states along with seasons just starting to kick off across the country. We’re quickly approaching another stellar high school event, the NHSI in Cary, and with that will come even more movement in these rankings. St. John Bosco (CA) continues to hold firm at the No. 1 position after a 4-0 start to their season. Venice (FL) has been rolling throughout the early portion of the year and jumps up to No. 2 in the country. One of the biggest movers in this update is The Bennett School (TX) jumping from unranked to No. 8 in the country after beating a handful of top ranked programs to start the year. Some other big movers inside the top-10 are Barbe (LA), who jumps from No. 18 to No. 5 in this update as well as Aledo (TX) who jumps from No. 20 to No. 9. The rest of the top-10...
College | Story | 3/17/2026

College Players of the Week: March 17

Vincent Cervino
Article Image
March 17th Perfect Game/Player of the Week: Vahn Lackey, C, Georgia Tech The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (17-3) came into the season with the highest external expectations in decades based on the anticipation of their offensive potential. To this point they have not only met those lofty expectations, but twenty games in they may have exceeded them. While there are plenty of high-level prospects up and down the lineup, with all that star power Vahn Lackey has stood out. Sure to be one of the first catchers selected in this year’s MLB Draft with his comprehensive skillset, he projects well as an everyday backstop at the next level. However, his overall athleticism stands out as we saw this week when he had a game where he played every defensive position on the field except pitcher. At the plate over four games including a series victory at Clemson last week, he went 9 for 15, scoring...
College | Rankings | 3/16/2026

College Top 25: March 16

Vincent Cervino
Article Image
Collegiate Player Report Database As each week of the college baseball season passes, we continue to be entertained at an incredible level with high level drama at every turn.  Conference play is under way and the national landscape is starting to make a bit more sense.  The development and strength of individual players is on full-display and there continue to be upsets on occasion that sends the message no team can relax for one moment.  For the most part, the Top 10 remains unchanged with some reshuffling as No. 1 UCLA (17-2) holds on to the top spot with yet another perfect (4-0) week after sweeping Michigan.  The No. 2 Texas Longhorns (18-1) did drop their first game of the season in Game 1 of SEC play but won the series against Ole Miss and finished the week with a (3-1) record.  The Georgia Tech Yellowjackets (17-3) passed their first real road test of the...
Draft | Story | 3/13/2026

PG Draft: Under the Radar Preps

Tyler Henninger
Article Image
PG Draft: Under the Radar Preps As the spring season gets underway, the showcase circuit and early high-level tournaments have already provided our scouts with some intriguing first looks at this year’s crop of prospects. At the same time, we’ve been tracking the buzz among team evaluators, listening closely to the names that keep coming up in conversations and the players clubs are making sure they get eyes on this spring. Every year, a handful of prospects quietly slip beneath the radar during the fall and winter months, only to reemerge once the games start counting again. Sometimes it’s the result of a productive offseason in the weight room, a noticeable jump in velocity, or a step forward in skill development. Other times, it’s simply a player finally getting the opportunity and the stage to show what’s been building behind the scenes. The spring has a...
Loading more articles...