By Sean Duncan
Executive Director

JUPITER, FL - On Sunday, after spending 13-plus hours at the field for three straight days at the World Wood Bat Championships, is when the brain begins to turn to porridge, along with many teams’ pitching staffs.

Bleary-eyed at the 8 a.m. game, the Evoshield Canes vs. Team Citius matchup was like a brown bag of smelling salts. The first pitch from 2017 RHP Hagen Danner (Huntington Beach, CA) was 93 mph and we were off and running.

The game itself was a doozy, as Team Citius - behind Virginia-bound ace RHP Devin Ortiz (St. Joseph Regional HS, NJ) -  appeared well on its way to pulling off a first-round upset, but the Evoshield Canes scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth thanks to three errors, and the Canes pulled out an exciting 4-3 victory.

Danner, a two-way UCLA recruit who had hit the game-tying home run on Saturday to escape pool play against North East Baseball, impressed on the mound as well. The solidly built 6-foot-2, 195-pound right-hander sat 91-93 through four innings while effectively mixing in a 76-78 mph slider.

Danner mowed through the first eight hitters before yielding three-consecutive two-out hits in the third, capped by 2018 OF Jack Herman (Eastern Regional HS, NJ; Maryland recruit), who crushed a 91-mph fastball for two-run double to right-center that had an exit velocity of 97 mph. Herman, a 6-foot, 180-pound Maryland recruit, also barreled a ball to deep right field that was caught ...