Team Florida 14U Battles to Two More Wins to Advance to the Final Four

Game 1 vs Colorado

Team Florida 14U picked up right where they left off on Day 2, finding themselves on the right side of a back and forth 10-9 walk-off win against Colorado. With a 1-1 tie in the 4th the Florida boys scratched across 3 runs after Mason Barela singled and came around on three straight walks. Ethan Burkhardt and Wil Gregory added RBI singles to push the lead to 4-1. Team Colorado tacked on 2 runs to make it a 4-3 game in the 5th when Wade Walton came up with 2-outs and laced a 2-run double in the right center gap to extend the lead to 7-3 in the 5th. The Colorado squad wouldn’t go quietly as they took advantage of a few mistakes from the Florida squad to take a 9-7 lead in the 7th. With 2 outs and nobody on Team Florida started a rally as Barela and Nick Cucchi each drew walks. Noah Hayse came up and promptly turned one around to score Barela from second, making it 9-8. With runners on the corners Wade Walton punched the first pitch he saw down the RF line scoring both runners to give Team Florida the 10-9 walk-off victory. Tyler Macpherson took the ball on the bump and threw 5 good innings giving up 4 runs on 7 hits while striking out 5 and walking 2. KJ Scobey finished out the game with a line of 2 IP 5 R 4 H 1 BB 1 K.

Game 2 vs Arkansas

Team Florida finished off 14U pool play undefeated and will head into the final four championship bracket after a 6-3 victory over Arkansas in the final game of the winners pool. Nick Cucchi started and battled through some command issues going: 2 IP 3 H 3 ER 3 BB 1 K. Mason Barela piggybacked Cucchi and attacked the zone consistently in his outing as he compiled a line of: 4 IP 5 H 0 R 1 BB 1 K and induced ground ball after ground ball to keep the Arkansas lineup off the scoreboard. Wade Walton took the momentum from his game 1 walk-off over to game 2 at the plate. Walton was 2-2 with an RBI single that was part of a 5-run 3rd inning for Florida. Barela and Cucchi also tallied RBI base knocks in the 3rd and Barela came home to score on a KJ Scobey sac fly later in the inning. 

Team Florida will play at 9 AM Saturday in the semifinals of the championship bracket on either Field 9 or 10.

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