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Tournaments  | Story | 5/29/2022

FTB Rockets Stay Calm, Cool, And Collected

Photo: Ryan Liss (Perfect Game)
FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Dealing with a five-hour delay could throw a team off rhythm, but not the 17U FTB Rockets, who enter Sunday at the East Memorial Day Classic undefeated.

“They stayed off their feet and stayed in the shade, and then once the all-clear went off they were ready to go,” FTB Head Coach Shane Olive said. “I didn’t really have to do a whole lot, so I was proud of that.”



The Rockets were originally supposed to play their second game of the East Memorial Day Classic at 10:15 am, but due to lightning in the area, the game did not start until 3:15 pm.

“It was very tiring and annoying,” Rockets first baseman Ryan Liss said. “I’m just thinking about staying in the zone, listening to music, resting, staying off my feet, stuff like that.”

When things eventually got underway, the team would find themselves down early to the East Coast 2023 Aces.

Left-handed pitcher Liam Schulz would get the start for the Rockets. The 5-foot-11 lefty would surrender just one run, while punching out six batters in four innings on the mound.

The lone run from the Aces would come courtesy of a Riley Bambino liner up the middle to center field to bring Noah Alburquerque home from second base.

The Rockets would never panic however, not when they were on a long lightning delay, or when they found themselves down 1-0 entering the fourth inning.

The leadoff man in the fourth, Ayden Gurevich, would start the inning by taking first after being hit by a pitch. Aidan Chin would take his place on first base and steal second in the very next at-bat.

Georgetown commit Braxton Templin then stepped up to bat with the game tying run on second and two outs.

After fouling off three consecutive pitches, Templin found himself down 1-2 in the count with his team desperately needing a base hit. The very next pitch, a changeup that Templin would rope out to left field, would be all that was needed to bring home Chin from second.

In the very next inning, infielder Dwayne Cartwright would walk on four consecutive pitches and then steal second to put himself in scoring position as the go-ahead run.

And a go-ahead run is exactly what he would be. After a balk and wild pitch, Cartwright would make his way to home to give his team the 2-1 lead.

The Rockets then went with right-handed pitcher Grant Straub to relieve Schulz in the bottom of the fifth.

After a clutch two-out triple to right field by the Aces' designated hitter, Logan Miyar, it appeared that they would tie things up once more. But a bang-bang play at first with an outstretched arm by Liss would end the top of the fifth.

“He [Straub] just kept trying to fill it up and let his defense work and that’s exactly what they did,” Olive said. “Tyler made an unbelievable play in the whole backhand long throw and a great stretch by Ryan at first.”

A 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of sixth would finish off a 2-1 victory for the Rockets. They played directly after that win to extend their undefeated record to 3-0 with a 14-8 victory over Legends 17u Black.

The team plays their final game of pool play Sunday at 1:15 pm at South Fort Myers High against Mosteel Baseball.

“We just got to tell ourselves to just not be lazy and play with our hearts and go all out,” Liss said.

Tournaments | Story | 5/19/2026

Best of the Best Event Preview

Jheremy Brown
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In simplistic terms, the Best of The Best tournament is an absolute gauntlet as seemingly every game brings a playoff game atmosphere. Coaches must strategically map out their pitching to ensure they can get through Pool Play while also making sure they have arms to make a deep playoff run. Each and every age group is loaded with the best teams, composed of some of the best players that travel baseball has to offer. The 9u & 10u age groups will respectively have 9 out of the Top 10 Teams within the latest PG National Team Rankings participating in the event. At 9U, LTP-Reign will look to hold on to their #1 ranking but will have plenty of competition with the likes of ZT National Prospects and HTX-Wildcatters 9U looking to take over that #1 spot. In the 10u age group, Elevate National will look to fend off plenty of talent with #2 ranked Kaos National, East Cobb Astros and ZT...
College | Rankings | 5/20/2026

DII/DIII/NAIA Rankings Update: May 20

Nick Herfordt
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There is a reason the preseason pick to win it all rarely does. College baseball's postseason is a gauntlet — double elimination, best-of-three’s, then a full World Series format — and the team that looks unbeatable in February has to prove it again in May against opponents who have had just as long to get ready. Plenty of programs have entered the tournament as the obvious favorite and gone home early. It happens every year. Nobody should be shocked when it does. Top-ranked teams flaming out in regional weekends happens so many times it has become its own genre of schadenfreude Which makes this particular moment worth noting. The Perfect Game preseason picks to win the NAIA, NCAA Division II, and NCAA Division III national titles — Tennessee Wesleyan, UT Tyler, and the University of Lynchburg — are all still alive heading into the final rounds. All three...
College | Story | 5/19/2026

College Players of the Week: May 19

Vincent Cervino
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May 19th Perfect Game/Co-Players of the Week:  Carson Tinney, C, Texas  The Texas Longhorns just finished off another stellar regular season and are heading to Hoover for the SEC Conference Tournament as the No. 2 Seed this week.  To secure their 2nd place finish, they had to sweep Missouri at home last weekend and did so in large part to the power bat of Carson Tinney.  The 6-4/240 catcher from Castle Pines, CO transferred to Austin after two sensational seasons at Notre Dame and has thrived in his draft year.  In the 3-game set, Tinney collected 7 hits in 13 at-bats, scoring 5 runs, with a double, 3 home runs and he drove in 10 runs all told.  With some of the most prodigious power in the college game this year, Tinney is now slashing .321/.695/.473 with 10 doubles an incredible 20 home runs and 54 RBIs while playing in the most spacious ballpark in the...
College | Rankings | 5/18/2026

College Top 25: May 18

Vincent Cervino
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The regular season is behind us, and it is now tournament time and wow, is there a lot to still be decided.  We are a week away from the Field of 64 being announced and hosting opportunities, at-large bids, as well as automatic bids are there for the taking.  The UCLA Bruins (48-6) continue their stranglehold on the No. 1 spot in the land, finishing the regular season without losing a series all year.  ACC powers, UNC (43-10) and Georgia Tech (45-9) remain at No. 2 and No. 3 respectively and SEC regular season champs, the Georgia Bulldogs (43-12) stick at No. 4.  After that there was a small amount of shuffling within the Top 10 with No. 5 Texas (40-12), No. 6 West Virginia (37-13) and No. 7 FSU (38-16) moving ahead of now No. 8 Auburn (36-18) after they were the only team in this group to drop their weekend series.   No. 14 Florida (37-18) and No. 15...
High School | General | 5/18/2026

High School Notebook: May 18

Jordan Gates
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‘27 RHP Grant Slater (@BoydCoBaseball) gets his 1st start of the year (3rd appearance) as he works his way back. FB opened 89-92 w/ ride & was still up to 91 in the 5th (run rule), while touching 93 in the 3rd. CT worked in the mid 8s & breaking ball in mid 7s (sweep). Big summer… pic.twitter.com/w9EXl6Jmrx — Perfect Game Ohio Valley (@PG_OhioValley) May 8, 2026 Grant Slater, 2027, RHP, Boyd Co (KY) Slater made his full start of the year back on May 7th. He had appeared in a few games in relief roles prior as he has come back from a few injury bugs. The Alabama commit went five strong innings, in a complete game fashion (run rule), only allowed a couple hits, one walk, and struck out 13 batters. Slater is beginning to ramp up at the right time with postseason right around the corner. Slater’s fastball peaked at 93 mph a few times, held velocity in the...
High School | General | 5/14/2026

CPBL Showcase Scout Notes

Troy Sutherland
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Logan Cummins (‘26 ON) Silky op with big arm speed and projection. Shaky FB command early, 91-93 T94. CH is present plus, weapon vs both LH & RH hitters at 83-84. Good arm side depth to it. SL has some length to the mostly lateral action @ 77. #KState commit.#CPBLShowcaseWknd pic.twitter.com/7TdJ2neOv6 — Perfect Game International (@pg_int1) May 8, 2026 Logan Cummins (‘26 ON) Very intriguing athletic upside here, came out early a bit juiced up leading to inconsistent fastball command but settled in and started dotting. Ran the fastball up to 94 with running life. Changeup is ahead of the rest of the arsenal  in terms of quality, and has a parachuting arm side dive that gets frequent swings over the top. Slider is tight with varying length at its best it does have an extra gear to garner a late count whiff. Should fit nicely at Kansas State if he decides to...
College | Story | 5/14/2026

Coppy's Corner: May 14 POY Deep Dive

John Coppolella
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Each week I huddle with Vinnie Cervino and Craig Cozart  to discuss Top-25 rankings and Players of the Week. In Coppy’s Corner, I dive deeper into these Players of the Week, providing analysis from 20+ years working in baseball front offices at the highest level.   Player of the Week: Drew Burress – Georgia Tech  I love everything that Craig Cozart writes, and his piece on Burress is as good as it gets (link). Craig does a masterful job of showing us how Burress has (not arguably) the best career college performance of any current player. The body of work is consistent and impressive, and Burress has one of the highest floors in the 2026 MLB Draft with above average or better tools across the board.  I’m not going to do a deep dive on Burress’ numbers because there is no point: they are really good, everywhere. I would rather talk about...
College | Rankings | 5/13/2026

DII/DIII/NAIA Rankings Update: May 13

Nick Herfordt
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The college baseball postseason has arrived for NCAA Division II, Division III, and the NAIA, bringing with it the most intense stretch of the season. Conference tournaments have wrapped up, national brackets are taking shape, and teams across the country are shifting from regular season positioning to survival mode, where one bad inning can abruptly end a year’s worth of work. The NAIA Opening Round is already underway, and some programs could begin packing for the national finals as early as tomorrow. Across all three divisions, the postseason field is loaded with experienced clubs, dominant pitching staffs, and lineups capable of changing a game with one swing. Now, the focus turns from building résumés to advancing through regional play and chasing national championships. These antepenultimate rankings provide a final snapshot of where the divisions stand entering...
High School | Rankings | 5/13/2026

High School Top 50 Update: May 13

Tyler Russo
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Another week has passed by in the high school baseball season and with that, we have another edition of the National High School Top 50 to bring to you. Playoffs are rolling in southern states and we have reached the final 4 in some of them already. Each week we have new teams break in and this week is no different with three new faces inside the top-50.   The top remains almost identical to a week ago with the top-10 remaining the exact same with Venice (FL) leading the way as the No. 1 team in the nation. North Paulding (GA) swept Buford in an Elite 8 matchup in Georgia and move up a pair of spots to No. 12 in the country. Another big mover is St. Laurence (IL) who jumps nine spots to No. 13 and boast a 30-1 record on the year. Waxahachie (TX) continues to move up and are up nine spots this week to No. 32.   The three new teams inside the National Top 50 are Etowah...
College | Story | 5/12/2026

College Players of the Week: May 12

Vincent Cervino
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May 12th Perfect Game/Player of the Week:  Drew Burress, OF, Georgia Tech  It would be hard to come up with an award that Drew Burress, the 5-9/185 junior from Houston County, GA, hasn’t achieved throughout his All-American career for the Yellow Jackets.  From being named the Perfect Game Freshman of the Year in 2024, to being a semifinalist for the Dick Howser and Golden Spikes Award in 2025, it would be a challenge for a mere mortal to live up to the expectations.  Burress has done that and more as he etched his name in the record books last weekend when he tied Georgia Tech legend Jason Varitek’s record for career home runs.  Launching round-trippers in each of their 3-victories against ACC foe Duke, Burress brought his total to an incredible 57 over his three seasons in Atlanta.  For the weekend, he collected 6 hits in 12 at bats, scoring 6...
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