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The Class of 2025 clinches second straight All-American Game in a dominant 7-0 win

September 17, 2024
By Andy Sroka
Managing Editor, Scouting

MIAMI – The second annual Prep Baseball All-American Game provided the Class of 2025 team the chance to win for the second straight year, and it’s an opportunity these high school seniors seized.

At loanDepot Stadium, the home of the Miami Marlins, and the site of the second annual All-American Game, the ‘25s claimed a 7-0 victory over the Class of 2026 squad. The seniors had several stellar performances that pushed them over the finish line, though SS Kayson Cunningham’s (S.A. Johnson HS, TX; Texas commit) solo homer doubled and padded an early lead for the seniors and it ultimately helped him claim the game’s MVP honor. SS Billy Carlson (Corona HS, CA; Vanderbilt) catalyzed these seniors too, working a competitive at-bat that ended in a line-drive single to his opposite field that scored the game’s first run in the bottom of the second inning.

In fact, the seniors looked eager from the jump, as SS Jojo Parker (Purvis HS, MS; Mississippi State) led the bottom of the first off with a double into the left-center gap. This followed a shutdown, one-two-three first inning delivered by RHP Angel Cervantes (Warren HS, CA; UCLA). Cervantes was one of the biggest winners of the 2023 event, carving through the Class of 2024’s lineup during his solo inning, and he set the tone on the mound in this year’s game with another clean frame.

Though Parker did not come around to score in the first, as junior LHP Gio Rojas (Stoneman Douglas HS, FL; Miami) struck out the side from there, this just marked the beginning of a game full of tough at-bats authored by the seniors in attendance.

Senior LHP Johnny Slawinski (Johnson City HS, TN; Texas A&M) produced, arguably, the most overpowering inning of work on Saturday, as he K’d the side in order, sitting 90-92 mph while spinning a biting breaking ball and a swing-and-miss changeup that each flummoxed the three ‘26s he faced and struck out.

In the bottom half of that frame, with two runners on and two outs, this was the moment when the SoCal shortstop Carlson grinded out an at-bat that resulted in a hard-hit line-drive single to right field that plated the game’s first run, giving the ‘25s the first (and only) lead of the game.

The ‘25s navigated through some trouble in the top of the third to keep their lead intact, and then they added to it when Cunningham crushed a no-doubt pull-side home run – the first home run in All-American Game history. He clobbered an elevated 1-0 fastball with a 100.2 mph EV that had everyone inside the ‘25 dugout off their feet instantly, giving the seniors a 2-0 lead in the process.

After a quiet couple innings, junior LHP Carson Bolemon (Southside Christian HS, SC; Wake Forest) reinvigorated onlookers by striking out three of the best hitters in attendance, in order. Bolemon sat 91-93 mph on a high-spin fastball, and his slider, 81-83, had sharp, late depth with vicious spin.

While the 2026s were still looking for their first hit, the seniors kept adding to their lead. Carlson struck again in the sixth frame, crushing a long opposite-field home run that made it 3-0.

Class of 2025 arms set down the first seven batters of the game, and they never really allowed much of a rally from the ‘26 bats. The juniors recorded their first hit in the eighth, off the bat of RHP/3B Coleman Borthwick (South Walton HS, FL; Auburn), who won the home run derby the day before. Borthwick’s physical 6-foot-6 stature made him look like a prototypical home run derby champ, and that strength also allowed him to connect for this line-drive single through the infield that left that bat at over 100 mph.

RHP/INF Josh Hammond (Wesleyan Christian HS, NC; Wake Forest) was last year’s MVP, and he was critical to the team’s success again in 2024. He shut down the ‘26s in order in the top of the ninth – which technically clinched the win – but it being an exhibition game, we did complete the bottom of the ninth despite the home team winning already. In the bottom half, Hammond, who finished runner up in the home run derby, scalded a deep double off of Borthwick into his pull gap to clear the loaded bases.

In total, Class of 2025 arms K’d 15 batters in nine innings of work which helped this class of talent retain its All-American Game title by the final score of 7-0.

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