Mountain Brook shuts down Buford for Blue title
HOOVER, Ala. – Over their first three games at this week’s Perfect Game High School Showdown, the Birmingham (Ala.) Mountain Brook Spartans were a scoring machine, pushing across 25 runs in the three victories.
On Saturday morning, playing under a clear blue sky at Hoover Met Sports Complex Stadium, one run was all they needed.
Senior right-hander Porter Phelan spun an efficient if not over-powering two-hitter after his teammates had given him a one-run lead in the top of the first, and that was enough for the Spartans to hold off the Buford (Ga.) Wolves, 1-0, in the PG HS Showdown Blue Bracket championship game.
Nationally No. 31-ranked Buford also received a solid effort from senior right-hander Jackson Gaspard – he gave up one run on three hits in six innings of work – but his teammates were not able to get anything going against Phelan.
“I think (the final score) speaks to the job that Porter did and I think it speaks to the job their pitcher (Gaspard) did,” Mountain Brook head coach Lee Gann said postgame. “There were two great pitchers throwing today and both of them were keeping the other team off-balance and staying around the zone. Hats off to their guy and hats off to Porter.”
The Spartans scored the game’s only run in the top of the first when Will Yarbro was issued a one-out walk and promptly moved to second on a passed ball. Harrison Ware, batting right behind Yarbro, then delivered a groundball, RBI single through the left-side of the infield, plating Yarbro.
Beau Hubbard and David Stone each singled to account for Mountain Brook’s other two hits; Riley Stanford and Braden Hartman singled for Buford.
“We came into this thing wanting to get better,” Gann said. “We wanted to play good people and try to make ourselves a better baseball team. We just kept getting better and kept plugging away and we had some guys that really stepped-up this week and really answered the call. We’re excited about where we are right now.”
Phelan, a 6-foot-3, 200-pounder, struck-out seven and walked one during his outing. He had thrown a scoreless inning against Bob Jones HS earlier in the tournament and ended up allowing only three hits with seven strikeouts and two walks in eight shutout innings.
His championship game effort was enough to earn him co-MV Pitcher honors with Buford sophomore right-hander Dylan Lesko, the No. 1-ranked overall national prospect in the class of 2022. Lesko threw a complete-game, 10-strikeout no-hitter on Friday, with one walk keeping him from a perfect game.
Yarbro, a 6-foot-4, 205-pound senior outfielder, was 4-for-12 (.333) with a home run, two triples, a single and six RBI and was named the MV Player.
This is Gann’s 18th season at Mountain Brook – he was head coach at Bob Jones HS for three years prior – and he watched the Spartans improve to 12-1 on the season with their 4-0 showing this weekend.
“We’ve got some work to do; we’ve got some things we really need to cleanup and really work on,” Gann said. “But at this point we really couldn’t be more happy for this bunch of guys right here and more excited for what they’ve accomplished this weekend.”
2020 PG High School Showdown Blue Bracket Champions, Mountain Brook Spartans:
2020 PG High School Showdown Blue Bracket Runners-up, Buford Wolves:
2020 PG High School Showdown Blue Bracket MVP, Will Yarbro:
2020 PG High School Showdown Blue Bracket Co-MVPitcher, Dylan Lesko:
2020 PG High School Showdown Blue Bracket Co-MVPitcher, Porter Phelan:
DeSoto Central rallies past Hartselle in White championship
HOOVER, Ala. – The DeSoto Central Jaguars were searching for answers and quickly running out of time early Saturday evening at the Hoover Met Sports Complex Stadium. The Jags, the No. 3 team in the Perfect Game High School national rankings, seemed out of sorts.
They headed into the bottom of the bottom of the sixth inning at the PG High School Showdown White Bracket championship game not only trailing the Hartselle (Ala.) HS Tigers by a 3-0 count but were also being no-hit by the Tigers’ impressive junior left-hander Drew Cartee, who was totally in control.
What was a team that for three years has featured Perfect Game All-American and top 2020 MLB Draft prospect Blaze Jordan and several others to do? Well, come back, of course.
The Jaguars rallied for a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth, sent the game into extra innings with a single tally in the seventh, and then won it in walk-off fashion when Robert Mac Sims came through with a one-out RBI single into left field in the eighth.
“It’s funny because all we’ve really been talking about is dealing with these situations and keeping our composure,” Central head coach Mark Managhan said during postgame comments. “You come to events like this, there’s a lot of pressure on the guys and they put some added pressure on themselves to be successful in front of the crowd, in front of the scouts, college coaches or whatever.”
Hartselle, which performs under the direction of Alabama’s all-time winningest coach in William Booth, scored a single run in the top of the first and added two more in the third to take a 3-0 lead. Singles by Brodie Morrow – who finished with two RBI – Clay Burns and Connor Ord helped lead to those runs, but there wasn’t much more to follow.
Meanwhile, Cartee took control. He didn’t give up a hit until Chase Honeycutt singled with one out in the sixth and even after the gates had opened, he continued to battle. Cartee worked a full seven innings, ultimately giving up three earned runs on four hits with six strikeouts and five walks.
The Jaguars scored their two runs in the sixth on a sac fly from Wesley Sides and an RBI double from Jackson Siler. Honeycutt came through with an RBI single to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh after Tyler Pearson had been walked and Jordan intentionally walked before him. Landon Powell and Bryce Gaston were walked before Mac Sims delivered his game-winner in the eighth.
Sophomore left-hander Brock Tapper was lights-out in relief for the Jaguars, throwing the final six one-hit, shutout innings, striking out three and walking two.
Jordan, the No. 2-ranked player in the class of 2020 and a Mississippi State signee, capped his prolific four-year Perfect Game career by being named the MV Player; he went 6-for-13 (.462) with a home run, two triples, a doubles and two singles (1.639 OPS) with two runs scored and an RBI.
His reliable running mate at Central for the last three years, senior right-hander Cade Smith, was named the MV Pitcher after allowing four hits and striking out 11 in seven shutout innings.
“We try to just keep everything about us and just staying together and just trying to win baseball games,” Managhan said. “That’s what this is about is coming and playing great competition and finding a way to win; it doesn’t matter how.
“The guys have really showed a lot of resolve and done exactly that and competed until the end. We said we’re going to play seven innings and we’re going to have the effort and the focus that we need to have for seven innings.”
And then, looking ahead to what is still a long 2020 season for a Jaguar team that has its sights set on a Mississippi big-school state championship, Monaghan had this to offer:
“Pitching and defense I feel like wins championships,” he said. “I feel like we have some bangers in our lineup but they understand that’s it’s at-bat to at-bat, and we’ve got to play defense and we’ve got to pitch and play complete baseball if we’re going to compete in these type of events.”
2020 PG High School Showdown White Bracket Champions, DeSoto Central Jaguars:
2020 PG High School Showdown White Bracket Runners-up, Hartselle Tigers:
2020 PG High School Showdown White Bracket MVP, Blaze Jordan:
2020 PG High School Showdown White Bracket MVPitcher, Cade Smith:
Loganville steamrolls IMG in Red Bracket finale
HOOVER, Ala. – Loganville High School head coach Jeff Segars has led the Red Devils to three straight Georgia state championships and five state titles overall during his 23-year tenure at the Georgia school.
It goes without saying that he’s coached his fair share of outstanding prospects over the years – 2012 Perfect Game National Player of the Year and current New York Yankee Clint Frazier among them – so when he sends his team out to face a top prospect-laden team like the one at Florida’s IMG Academy, no one associated with the program is going to be in awe.
“Our guys know how to win so when we play the IMGs or any of these other teams, they know they can step on the field and win,” Segars said matter-of-factly. “They got it done today.”
Did they ever. Loganville wrapped up a 4-0 week at the PG High School Showdown by crushing the IMG Ascenders 13-1 in the Red Bracket championship game played at Hoover Met SC Stadium, a contest that was ended by the run-rule after six innings.
The Red Devils were so vastly superior to the Ascenders on this day, it was kind of crazy. They were opportunistic, scoring their 13 runs on nine hits, including two bunt singles and another infield single; they were also walked nine times and hit by a pitch twice.
Loganville got things rolling by putting a pair of runs on the board in the top of the second – highlighted by an RBI bunt single from Jackson Ford – and then blew it open with a six-run fourth. The Red Devils invoked the mercy rule when they added five more in the top of the fifth.
Just as an example of just how efficiently it played, here’s how Loganville scored its six fourth-inning runs, and it was much the same way in the second and the fifth:
Brocker Way received a leadoff walk and William Cawthon singled. Cooper Kennedy reached on a bunt single back to the pitcher that loaded the bases, and both Jackson Ford and Ian King were plunked by pitches that pushed two runs across.
Jackson Daniel then stepped-in and delivered a bases clearing double, Jonathan "Daniel" Braswell doubled to score Daniel, and Way, batting for a second time in the frame, drove him home with a single.
Cawthon and Kennedy both finished with two singles and two RBI; Caleb Garner drilled a two-run triple to highlight the five-run fifth.
Pitchers Jacob Autry, Bowden Witcher, Matthew Heard and Cooper Johnson combined to limit the much-heralded Ascenders lineup to a single run on just six hits while striking out five and walking five.
IMG, which won a bracket championship at last year’s PG HS Showdown, scored its only run in the bottom of the fourth on the strength of a one-out single from Trey Rucker, a pair of walks and an RBI single from Stone Russell.
“Our guys played great all weekend, honestly,” Segars said while friends and family mingled with the Loganville players out on the field postgame. “Our number-one arm (senior Caleb Garner) wasn’t able to go this weekend but these guys don’t quit; they know how to win. We have a great tradition at Loganville and our kids know how to win and fight.”
The Red Devils’ Jackson Daniels, a junior outfielder/third baseman, was named the MV Player primarily on the strength of his three-run double in the championship game that effectively put the game out of reach. Ascenders senior right-hander Heston Tole was the MV Pitcher after throwing a complete-game, no-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts during pool-play.
“This is a great event,” Segars said. “It’s some of the top programs definitely from the Southeast and you’re going to see good players, you’re going to see good arms. It prepares you for the playoffs, and our goal, honestly, we’re going to schedule as tough as we can.
“We’re not really concerned about our record as much as we are just playing good baseball,” he concluded. “And that’s what we did today: we played good baseball against a really good team and found some holes and made some plays.”
2020 PG High School Showdown Red Bracket Champions, Loganville Red Devils:
2020 PG High School Showdown Red Bracket Runners-up, IMG Academy Ascenders:
2020 PG High School Showdown Red Bracket MVP, Jackson Daniel:
2020 PG High School Showdown Red Bracket MVPitcher, Heston Tole:
