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Tournaments  | Story  | 7/16/2021

USA Prime Primed For Title Run

Matthew Welsh     
Photo: Nikolas Sanders (Perfect Game)
MARIETTA, Ga. -- Pound for pound, USA Prime National may have the single strongest roster in the field of the 428 teams at this year’s 16u WWBA National Championship. And that roster has provided a 2-0 record in the first two days of the tournament with a +16 run differential. 
 
On Friday, Prime secured their second win of the tournament, beating Canes Central, 5-2, one day after dismantling Main Baseball Academy, 12-0. Adam Hachman, the country’s third-rated left-hander in the 2023, started on the bump, and battled through 1 2/3 innings of scoreless ball. 
 
Although at times his command proved evasive, Hachman navigated through two multiple-runner jams, and snuck out of his start unscathed with a double play ball and two strikeouts. 
 
Stanford commit Christian Lim stole the show in relief, after entering in the second inning and pitching the remainder of the game. Lim’s 4 1/3 innings were the longest line of the game, and one in which he gave up only one run and struck out eight Canes batters. But for Lim, the showing was no more than just doing his job.
 
“I just had to pound the zone and get us out of the inning,” Lim said on his entering the second inning with runners on. “You can’t do anything good throwing balls, so I just needed to pound the zone.”
 
Alongside Lim’s impressive line was a batting lineup that fielded 11 different hitters, all of which registered a hit in the game. Antonio Anderson, Parker Picot, Nazzan Zanetello and Zaid Diaz led the way for USA with two hits each. In a total team effort, the game ended with 15 total hits, three of which went for extra bases. 
 
“It’s fun out here with really great competition, and I can’t wait to see how far we go,” Anderson said, the country’s 11th overall player and second-rated shortstop. “We just get into each other with hard work, but also just have fun really.”
 
Although not equipped with the largest roster at the event, 21 of Prime’s 24 players are top-500 talents, and a further 12 of those 21 lie within the top-100. And in boasting 16 current college commitments, including collegiate powerhouses like Arkansas, Louisiana State and Texas, Prime enters nearly every game they play as overwhelming favorites. 
 
Still, in national events like this summer’s climax in Atlanta, that level of recognition makes a team the top of the tournament’s proverbial ‘hit list.’ Every time the Texas-based team steps on the field, they get everyone's best shot, and for good reason. 
 
“We just have to stay focused,” said catcher and Texas commit Nikolas Sanders. “The target is on our back especially with the talent we have on here. We’re here to come in, take care of business, not play around, and just do the job.”
 
And although teams of this caliber often have a multi-state mosaic of prospects, USA’s camaraderie rivals that of any local, home-grown team. Players from 16 different states from California to Connecticut compose a roster designed to challenge America’s elite. USA Prime seems like a more-than-applicable name for a team that has top-level recruits from almost half of the states in the union. 
 
Even when graced with a roster like this, the team treats every game with comparable importance. Winning their first two games of the week-long event sets up Prime with a path to unlock games later in the tournament. Each game gives the team the ability to build on the last.
 
“It definitely gives us momentum because it helps out our pitching staff, we’ve got a good rotation going on right now. But also, winning early games puts in a better position to win the tournament,” Sanders said.
 
Another source for motivation is remedying what Sanders described as past shortcomings at the event. Even some of the best players in the country are using failures to build a contemporary push to the championship.
 
“I expect us to win this tournament,” Sanders said. “That’s the end goal, and it’s always been the end goal. I came here two years ago and came up short, so it’s definitely the goal for this tournament.”
 
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