THE WORLD'S LARGEST AND MOST COMPREHENSIVE SCOUTING ORGANIZATION
| 2,384 MLB PLAYERS | 15,802 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
2,384 MLB PLAYERS | 15,802 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
Create Account
Sign in Create Account
Tournaments  | Story | 11/11/2011

Tough July leads to historic October

Jeff Dahn
Photo: Perfect Game
The 2011 travel ball season couldn’t have ended on any higher note than the one Marucci Elite nailed over a 17 day period in October at venues in Fort Myers and Jupiter, Fla.

No screenwriter could have scripted it any better, not from a Marucci Elite perspective, anyway. Organization leader and head coach Chad Raley first took a young squad to the Perfect Game WWBA Underclass World Championship, which ran in Fort Myers from Oct. 7-10. From there, a more veteran Marucci Elite team entered the prestigious PG WWBA World Championship in Jupiter, which covered five days from Oct. 20-24.

On two October Monday afternoons separated by two weeks and about 120 miles of south Florida highway, Marucci Elite players, parents and supporters reached the Promised Land – twice. First was their second straight championship at the WWBA Underclass World Championship on Oct. 10, followed in lockstep by their first title at the WWBA World Championship on Oct. 24.

It was the first time any organization had won the two prestigious Perfect Game WWBA World tournaments in the same year.

“This has been an unbelievable ride. I’m really proud of these guys, and they have a tremendous amount of character. We’re definitely doing some good things here,” Raley said after his squad escaped Central Florida PG Royal, 3-2, in the championship game at the WWBA World Championship.

He was just warming up:

“We just had a great group of kids who were able to jell and come together as a team. … They’re all great kids, they listen and they’re all humble kids and they all had something to play for. We had one goal in mind and we achieved that goal.”

Ah, yes – Florida sunshine, comforting breezes and warm fuzzy feelings all around. And in reality, those events of October offered a much-welcomed change from the events of mid-summer and the hard truths Marucci Elite experienced in hot and muggy Marietta, Ga.

Raley runs the Marucci Elite organization out of the Marucci Elite Training Center in Baton Rouge, La. In the early part of July, he took his premier 17u team to the blockbuster, 218-team PG WWBA 2012 Grads or 17u National Championship at the East Cobb Baseball Complex in Marietta. Marucci Elite fully expected to contend for the title.

What followed was beyond belief. Marucci stumbled out of the gate, never recovered and finished pool-play with an almost incomprehensible 1-5-1 record.

“We completely laid an egg in pool-play. It was really a learning experience for me to see all the things we did wrong,” Raley recalled in a Nov. 10 telephone conversation with Perfect Game. “I don’t know if the team chemistry was really there, and that was the craziest tournament I’ve ever seen. We found ways to lose that I didn’t think were possible.”

He spoke specifically of an 8-4 loss to the ABA Braves in Marucci Elite’s fourth game when it squandered a 4-0 lead by allowing eight runs on just one hit.

“We had walks, errors, strikeouts getting by the catcher that let guys get on base,” Raley said. “It was one of those games where our pitching completely dominated the other team’s hitting yet they scored eight runs. It’s just kind of mind-boggling when you sit back and look at it.”

Something was definitely out of a whack, considering Marucci Elite’s status as a top-10 national program. The 17u team was 37-3 going into its WWBA 17u National Championship opener against Yak Baseball (West), a game it lost, 8-3.

“We kind of rolled into that tournament pretty cocky and arrogant,” Raley said. “We were feeling pretty confident and we really overlooked our first opponent. With that loss, it kind of punched us in the mouth and kind of shocked us.”

Marucci Elite limped out of Marietta on July 14 and with essentially the same roster in tow, arrived in Fort Myers for the start of the PG 17u BCS Finals on July 17. The team was able to collect itself amongst still high expectations and earned a spot in the 16-team playoffs after skating through pool-play at 6-0. But it lost its first playoff game to Palm Beach County PAL 17u and exited the tournament.

After the round of 16 showing at the 17u BCS Finals, Raley and his assistants went to work assembling rosters for October’s WWBA Underclass World Championship and WWBA World Championship.

Raley lifted top-ranked 2013 prospect Christopher Rivera from Fullerton, Calif. – a Cal State Fullerton commitment – off the WWBA 17u National Championship roster and put him on the WWBA World roster, bypassing the WWBA Underclass World all together.

Marucci’s 24 roster spots for the WWBA Underclass World Championship were filled by top 2013 prospects – and two 2014s – from 12 states and Canada, including six 2013s who had already made Division I commitments: RHP/MIF Alden Cartwright, Baton Rouge, La. (LSU); RHP IF Trey Lee Cobb, Broken Arrow, Okla. (LSU); OF/1B Jarret DeHart, Medford, N.J. (LSU); SS/RHP Dylan Manwaring, Horseheads, N.Y. (Wake Forest); SS Oscar Mercado, Tampa, Fla. (Florida State); and MIF/3B/RHP Spencer Trayner, Tampa, Fla. (North Carolina).

In that group, Mercado is ranked 21st nationally, Trayner 48th, DeHart 60th and Cobb 78th.

One of the top 2013 prospects on the Underclass roster who had not committed at the time of the tournament was catcher Andrew Dunlap from Houston. Dunlap was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player after collecting three game-winning hits, including a solo home run and a grand slam. He finished with nine RBI.

Playing with an organization that had won the same event a year earlier, Dunlap entered the tournament brimming with confidence.

“Chad (Raley) called me earlier this month and he told me how they won it last year,” Dunlap said after Marucci Elite beat Chet Lemon’s Juice, 9-6, in the championship game. “It sounded like we had a pretty good squad so we were all expecting to be here.”

Other top 2013 prospects on the Elite Underclass roster who also had not committed at the time included C/3B/RHP Adrian Chacon from Tampa (No. 54 nationally) and RHP Trevor Clifton from Knoxville, Tenn. (No. 121). MIF/RHP/OF Blake Hennessey from Ponte Verda, Fla., is the No. 20-ranked national prospect in the class of 2014.

Four prospects that were part of the Marucci Elite championship team at the WWBA Underclass World Championship in Fort Myers – Chacon, Dunlap, Hennessey and Mercado – also filled roster spots on the championship team at the WWBA World Championship in Jupiter.

Marucci Elite’s Jupiter roster listed 25 prospects, including Perfect Game All-Americans OF/RHP Andrew Pullin and RHP Cody Poteet, Oregon and UCLA recruits, respectively. Sixteen other roster spots were filled with Division I recruits.

Eight of those were taken by prospects that were also part of the disappointing effort at the WWBA 17u National Championship in Marietta in July and five also played in the 17u BCS Finals. Those players included Rivera, Poteet, LHP/1B/OF Hunter Devall, Clinton, La. (an LSU commit); RHP/OF Gabe Gunter, Crestview, Fla. (Virginia Tech); Ty Moore, Baton Rouge, La. (LSU); RHP/INF Hunter Newman, Bloomington, Ga. (LSU); MIF Chase Nyman, Pascagoula, Miss. (Mississippi); and LHP/1B Kyle Twomey, Placentia, Calif. (Southern Cal).

Moore, Nyman and catcher Michael Barash from Boca Raton, Fla. (LSU) were Marucci’s position players named to the WWBA World Championship All-Tournament Team.

Marucci Elite pitchers RHP Marcus Brakeman of Tierra Verde, Fla. (Stanford), Newman, Poteet and Devall were also named to the all-tournament team.

Moore was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player after hitting .350 (7-for-19) with five walks, five runs scored and three RBI. He obviously relished the opportunity he was given to play for Marucci Elite at the WWBA World.

“I had a couple of other teams … that wanted me to come and play for them, but you can’t beat Marucci. They offer the best teams and it showed today,” Moore said after the championship game victory. “It’s not always about putting together the (PG All-American) or the Team USA roster, it’s putting together a bunch of kids that go out and mesh well together and put some runs on the board.”

Brakeman was named Most Valuable Pitcher after throwing eight scoreless innings and picking up a win and a save while striking out eight and walking one. The other three all-tournament pitchers were equally effective: Devall threw 7 1/3 innings and picked up two wins with a 2.86 ERA and nine strikeouts; Newman pitched five scoreless innings and struck out 10 while picking up one win; and Poteet was 1-0 with a 2.47 ERA and 10 strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings.

The team came together and won a championship, and Raley credited the result to something else taken from the July debacle in Marietta.

“The biggest thing that I learned (in Marietta) as a coach was how important team chemistry was,” he said. “It was a wake-up call and I’ve got kind of brand new formula for building teams now.”

It was at the WWBA Underclass World Championship in Fort Myers where Raley first put his “new formula” into use. He said he had reached the conclusion he had too many players in the dugout and finding them all adequate playing time was becoming a burden.

“I wanted to try to carry the bare minimum of position players that I could so that everybody’s in the lineup at some point in time and they’re consistently seeing a lot of pitching and we’re not rotating guys in and out,” Raley said. “I thought that worked really well in both (World) tournaments because we only had one or two position players sitting on the bench each game.”

Raley is already well into his planning for 2012. During the Nov. 10 conversation, he said he had just about finalized his 17u roster and would begin work on the 16u and 15u rosters. He plans on taking a team’s worth of players to the National Underclass Showcase-Main event in Fort Myers Dec. 28-30.

“We’re looking forward to a good year and hopefully we can keep this momentum rolling,” Raley said.

He didn’t just now start thinking about the 2012 season. His thoughts were already on the future in the slap-happy moments immediately following Marucci’s WWBA World Championship title game victory.

“We just want to keep winning championships,” Raley said in Jupiter. “We want to keep winning championships and keep building the organization and make Marucci proud of us – just keep playing the game the right way.”

Give us your feedback
Tournaments | Story | 1/9/2026

PG Leaderboard: Class of 2030
Jheremy Brown
Article Image
Complete PG Leaderboard Database PG Leaderboard: Class of 2026 | Class of 2027 | Class of 2028 | Class of 2029 Today we wrap up our reviews of the 2026 thru 2030 class where we looked back on some of the eye opening metrics we saw from around the country, both in a showcase and tournament setting. To those not inside the youth baseball world, some of the metrics below would seem truly unattainable from current 8th graders, from the pair of 90 mph heaters courtesy of Amani Tuiasosopo and Kingston George, to upper-80s velocity from all over the field and multiple players north of 90 mph on the exit velocity testing (with wood), this 2030 class is one that has a chance to be special as we continue to watch it unfold moving forward.  Top Fastball Velocity  Rk Player FB Event School Hometown 1 Amani Tuiasosopo 90 2025 WWBA 14U World Championship Renton...
Read More
College | Story | 1/14/2026

2026 College Preview Index

Perfect Game Staff
Article Image
From Preseason All-Americans to a Top 25, make sure to check back daily as we will continue to pump out content as a staff. Every conference preview will include a Preseason All-Conference Team as well as Draft/Prospect lists for each of the next 3 years (2026, 2027, 2028) while also breaking down every team within each conference. Publish Date Content Wednesday January 7 Preseason All-Americans Thursday January 8 Preseason Top 25 Monday January 12 Top 100 Freshmen Tuesday January 13 Top 100 Sophomores Wednesday January 14 Top 100 Juniors Thursday January 15 Top 100 Seniors College Conference Previews Publish Date Conference Friday January 16 Atlantic Coast (ACC) Monday January 19 Southeastern (SEC) Tuesday January 20 Oregon State Preview Wednesday January 21 Big 10 Thursday January 22 Big 12 Friday January 23 American (AAC) Monday January 26 Atlantic Sun (ASUN)...
Read More
Softball | Softball Tournament | 1/14/2026

Perfect Game Softball Turf Wars

Ashley Mears
Article Image
2026 Perfect Game Softball Turf Wars January 9-11 Ashley Mears   The 2026 season kicked off in impressive fashion at the Fun City Dome in Burlington, Iowa, featuring a highly competitive field across both age groups. The 18U division was loaded with talent, including over 20 Division I and II commits and several high-upside prospects, leading to intense bracket play and multiple walk-off finishes. Iowa Nationals claimed the championship over a well-rounded Iowa Prospects Gold team. The 14U division brought together quality programs from Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois. The tournament championship was an exciting matchup where Southeast Iowa Swarm edged a tough Black Dragons squad. 18u Lauren Hagedorn (2026, Adel, IA) of Iowa Nationals and future Iowa State Cyclone earned weekend MVP honors after a strong two-way performance. In the circle, she consistently kept hitters off balance...
Read More
College | Rankings | 1/14/2026

Top 100 Collegiate Juniors

Vincent Cervino
Article Image
Top 100 Collegiate Freshmen | Top 100 Collegiate Sophomores As we look ahead to another season of college baseball and continue our week of class-by-class lists, we look at the Junior class and we’ve got our Top 100 Juniors in the 2026 college season. This list aligns with the PG Draft lists we compiled at the top, with Roch Cholowsky, Drew Burress, and AJ Gracia rounding out the top three. There’s a litany of storylines to follow this year, with players who have tons of draft upside or players looking to be impactful players among their respective programs. These are the players who we feel are in a position to make some serious noise during the 2026 season. Talent is present all across the board, with players who could make some serious statements this year. Looking all the way up and down the board, there are impact bats, players primed for a breakout, Friday...
Read More
College | Rankings | 1/13/2026

Top 100 Collegiate Sophomores

Vincent Cervino
Article Image
Top 100 Collegiate Freshmen As we creep toward opening day here in a month or so, the draft team has put together the Top 100 sophomores on campus this spring.  This list is chalk full of talent, with future draft prospects littered top to bottom. The headliner of this group is Derek Curiel, a draft eligible sophomore that took the SEC by storm last spring. The Perfect Game All-American posted a .990 OPS over the course of a full season and is projected to vault himself further up the board during his ‘26 campaign. An electric arm in Dax Whitney follows up Curiel, with Strosnider, Lawson and Franco rounding out the top five.  Keep tabs on the draft eligible sophomores in this group come the summer. The rest of the pack are eligible for next year’s draft and figure to feature at the top of many draft lists in ‘27.  Rk. Name Level Pos. B-T School Hometown...
Read More
Draft | Rankings | 1/12/2026

Top 100 Collegiate Freshmen

Vincent Cervino
Article Image
As we creep toward opening day here in a month or so, the draft team has put together the Top 100 freshmen on campus this spring.  Three high-end arms lead the way, starting with Jack Bauer. The Mississippi State left-hander reached triple digits as a prep and is sure to make an immediate impact this spring. UCLA right-hander Angel Cervantes was selected in the 2nd round of last year’s draft but held firm on his commitment and should be an impact arm for the Bruins. Following the arms, a collection of bats rounds out the Top 10. There is loads of upside to the group with the potential and they should draw considerable playing time as freshman.  As the list gets deeper, there are plenty of players that should pop up and make significant contributions both this year and years down the line. The class has both depth and talent, making for a very intriguing group of...
Read More
Tournaments | Story | 1/8/2026

PG Leaderboard: Class of 2029

Jheremy Brown
Article Image
Complete PG Leaderboard Database PG Leaderboard: Class of 2026 | Class of 2027 | Class of 2028 These players below are just entering their freshmen year's of high school, a scary though as you scroll through the 11 categories and see some of the eye opening numbers from the fastballs to the infield and outfield velocities, down to the Diamond Kinetic testing and their three sub-categories.  Top Fastball Velocity Rk Player FB Event Commitment School Hometown 1 Brody McCorkle 92 2025 18U PG Mid-Atlantic Fall Elite Championship Uncommitted Ranney Forked River, NJ 1 Caleb Polk 92 2025 14U Perfect Game Select Festival Uncommitted IMG Academy Dallas, TX 1 Knox Myers 92 2025 PG WWBA Freshman World Championship Uncommitted East Bay Riverview, FL 2 Alex Bello 91 2025 16U PG Fall World Series Uncommitted Montverde Academy Orlando, FL 2 Alex Bello 91 2025 14U Perfect Game...
Read More
College | Story | 1/9/2026

LSU Reloads & Returns; Opens No. 1

Vincent Cervino
Article Image
“How do you get to success? You have to honor the process that you built to get to that success…The standard is how we operate, train, and get better each day.”” Process-oriented leadership is a popular coaching strategy here in the mid-2020s but no one exemplifies that more than LSU head coach Jay Johnson. He’s won the Tigers two national titles during his time in Baton Rouge and expectations won’t be any lower in 2026 as LSU is the No. 1 team in the country in Perfect Game’s Preseason Top 25.  Johnson is heading into his fifth season at the helm in Baton Rouge and it’s fair to say that he has already experienced enormous success. There have been two national titles in four years (2023, 2025), a Golden Spikes winner (Dylan Crews, 2023), a first overall MLB Draft pick (Paul Skenes, 2023), and five first-round MLB Draft picks during...
Read More
Press Release | Press Release | 1/7/2026

PG Announces Naming Rights in Chesterfield

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 AND FIRST COMMUNITY CREDIT UNION ANNOUNCE CHESTERFIELD ATHLETIC COMPLEX    Landmark Partnership to Center on Community, Inclusion and Youth Sports    Chesterfield, Missouri (Wednesday, January 7, 2026) - Perfect Game, the world’s largest youth baseball and softball platform and scouting service, along with the City of Chesterfield, today announced  an exclusive naming rights partnership with First Community Credit Union (FCCU) for the Chesterfield Valley Athletic Complex. Effective immediately, the venue will be known as the “Chesterfield First Community Athletic...
Read More
College | Rankings | 1/8/2026

2026 Preseason Top 25

Vincent Cervino
Article Image
With an interesting and action-packed fall behind us, a new college season is just around the corner. The college game continues to prove it is alive and well as the Division 1 team count has now ballooned to 308 teams for the 2026 season. With new legislation allowing teams 5-weeks to prepare for opening day, many student athletes have returned to campus and will begin skill related workouts soon. Opening Day, as usual, will fall on Valentine’s Day weekend and it is just six weeks away. After a fall of evaluation and months of research and discussion, we are ready to release our annual Perfect Game pre-season Top 25 poll. After winning 53-games, hosting the NCAA Regional and Super Region, and sweeping their way through the College World, the LSU Tigers will debut the 2026 season as our No.1 ranked team. Head coach, Jay Johnson, has now led the Tigers to two national titles in the...
Read More
Loading more articles...
About Perfect Game :: Contact us :: Terms of Use :: Privacy Policy :: Testimonials :: Job Opportunities
Copyright 1994-2026 by Perfect Game. All rights reserved. No portion of this information may be reprinted or reproduced without the written consent of Perfect Game.