By Nathan Rode
National Supervisor

CHICAGO—With 18 walks, two hit batters and a few errors, the 2015 Under Armour All-America Game wasn’t exactly clean. The National team came away with an 11-5 victory, largely thanks to two catchers—Andy Yerzy (York Mills Collegiate SS, ON) and Mike Amditis (Boca Raton HS, FL). With the American squad up 1-0 in the bottom of the second, OF A.J. Brown (Starkville HS, MS) reached on an error. Yerzy then stepped to the plate and went with a 92-mph fastball away from RHP Zach Linginfelter (Sevier County HS, TN), driving it over the wall in left for a two-run home run. The American team took a 4-2 lead in the third, and then relinquished it in the fifth. With the bases loaded, RHP Brenden Heiss (Jacobs HS, IL) threw a wild pitch that scored one run and the other two runners came around to score with two errors on the play. The scored was tied 5-5 on a single by 3B Colton Welker (Douglas HS, FL), but the National Team pulled away for good with two runs in the sixth. Amditis added some insurance in the eighth with a grand slam to left-center field to make it 11-5. He knew it was gone right away, flipping his bat and taking a couple hops before breaking into his home run trot.

Yerzy and 3B Carter Kieboom (Walton HS, GA) were named MVPs of their respective teams after their performances. Kieboom went 2-for-3 with two singles and two runs scored. Despite the walks and errors, there were plenty of highlights worth mentioning…