There was a huge amount of baseball being played across the Top Gun sites this past weekend. Dozens of top 20 teams including 12u #1 East Rowan were in action. There were some dominant performances as well as some big upsets. Take a look at our recap of this past weekend’s Top Gun events.
Charlotte
9u
#13 Lake Norman Thunder ran into a buzz saw in Team 24 Gamecocks – Ashley (SC), going down 11-1 in pool play. They bounced back with a 16-4 win over the OTK Saints in their other pool play game. Team 24 finished finished 2-0 in pool play with a 17-2 win over LKN Hurricanes – Mann. The Stealth Elite Eagles (SC) went 2-0 in pool play with a 4-3 win over Hurricanes – Mann and a 21-2 win over Ripstix Baseball. In bracket play, Team 24 beat the #4 seed OTK Saints 11-1 while the Lake Norman Thunder blasted Stealth Elite 18-2 to set up a rematch with Team 24 in the finals. The rematch was much closer, but Team 24 prevailed 6-2 in the finals.
10u
#4 Carolina Havoc was making their spring debut this weekend, and unfortunately for them struggled a bit. On Saturday, the Havoc topped the Lake Norman Hammerheads 8-2 but were defeated by Aces – Edwards 5-3. The Hammerheads defeated Aces – Edwards 6-2 in their other pool play game. The Stealth Elite Orioles went 2-0 in pool play with a 15-0 win over the On Deck O’s and a 10-0 win over Team Carolina. In the play-in game, the On Deck O’s defeated the Hammerheads 8-7 to reach the semifinals. In the semifinals, Stealth Elite rolled over On Deck 14-3 while Aces – Edwards again topped the Havoc 8-4. In the finals, Aces – Edwards blanked Stealth Elite 6-0 to finish 4-0 for the weekend.
11u
The 11u age group was split into a 15-team National division and a 13-team American division.
National
The Vision Bandits went 2-0 in pool play with an 11-0 win over SBA LKN Canes – Pickard and a 18-2 win over Grand Slam USA Stars, but that was only good enough to earn the #2 seed for bracket play. The #1 seed went to Rivals Baseball who topped Elite Baseball EBC 16-2 and the Catawba Chaos 15-0. Mayhem Baseball also went 2-0 in pool play with an 11-7 win over Elite Baseball EBC and an 18-0 win over the Catawba Chaos. The Bravos were 2-0 in pool play scoring a 12-4 win over the Stealth Elite Falcons and a 12-4 win over the 2025 SBA LKN Canes. Team USA Diamond Kings Blue was also 2-0 in pool play with a 7-5 win over the Vision Bandits White and a 9-7 win over the Carolina Fury – Matthews. In the play-in games in bracket play, Team USA Diamond King Blue topped the Bravos 7-6 while Mayhem Baseball smashed their way to an 18-17 win over Carolina Fury – Matthews. In the semifinals, the Vision Bandits topped Mayhem Baseball 13-2 while Team USA Diamond King scored a 8-1 win over Rivals Baseball. In the finals, Vision completed their undefeated weekend with a 10-2 win over Team USA Diamond King Blue.
American
#18 LKN Attack went 2-0 in pool play with a 9-3 win over Black Mambas and a 5-4 win over the MCOC Miners, a performance good enough for the #1 seed in bracket play. #9 LKN Hurricanes went 0-2 in pool play including a 6-4 loss to Black Mambas and an 8-6 loss to #14 Carolina Blue Sox. The Blue Sox also topped the MCOC Miners 15-7 and earned the #3 seed for bracket play. #13 Athlete’s Lab Carolina Crushers went 1-1 in pool play with a 20-8 win over Team 24 Gamecocks – Latham and a 15-12 loss to the On Deck O’s and were relegated to the Silver bracket for bracket play. The Park Sharon Nationals earned the #2 seed for bracket play after notching a 13-8 win over SBA Canes – Walker/Patterson and a 13-1 win over the Carolina Reds. In bracket play, the Weddington Warriors topped the Carolina Astros 8-7 in the play-in game to reach the semifinals. In the semifinals, the Carolina Blue Sox scored an 11-2 win over Park Sharon while LKN Attack notched a 12-4 win over the Weddington Warriors. In the final, the Blue Sox slugged their way to a 14-2 win over LKN Attack.
12u
Similar to the 11u age group, the 12u age group was divided into a National and an American division (as well as a one-day Sunday event which we will not cover here).
National
In the National division, Copperheads – Gaffney earned the top seed in bracket play after posting a 6-2 win over Power Cross and a 12-5 win over Union County Crush – Devore. The Belmont Bandits earned the #2 seed with a 19-1 win over Gold Hill Miners and a 9-7 win over the LKN Hurricanes. Power Cross ended up with the #3 seed after posting a 17-3 win over Cherryville Baseball in addition to their loss to the Copperheads. Crush – Devore also bounced back from their loss to the Copperheads and earned the #4 seed for bracket play with a 17-0 win over the Harrisburg Hammerheads. In the semifinals, Crush – Devore edged the Copperheads 9-8 while the Bandits beat Power Cross 13-6. In the final, Crush – Devore was able to outlast the Bandits and scored a 15-8 victory.
American
Team 24 Gamecocks – Brown (SC) earned the #1 seed for bracket play with a 7-0 win over Copperheads – Shabosky and a 12-1 win over Copperheads – Sumner. Carolina Prime 2024 earned the #2 seed with a 14-9 win over Elite Baseball EBC and a 10-3 win over the Profit Spartans. #7 SBA LKN Carolina Cobras went 2-0 in pool play with a 14-12 win over Elite Baseball EBC and a 15-5 win over Copperheads – Sumner, which was good enough for the #3 seed in bracket play. On Sunday, Carolina Prime 2024 topped SBA LKN Carolina Cobras 11-3 while Team 24 edged Copperheads – Shabosky 10-9 to earn a trip to the finals. In the finals, Team 24 completed their undefeated run with a 14-8 win over Carolina Prime 2024.
13u
Bluechip Athletes went 2-0 on day 1 with a 10-1 win over the Triple Crown Lookouts and a 8-5 win over the Lake Wylie Warriors. Elite Baseball EBC was also 2-0 in pool play with a 12-0 win over the Lookouts and a 10-9 win over Cyclones. In bracket play, the Lookouts topped the Cyclones 13-8 in the play-in game. In the semifinals, the Lake Wylie Warriors scored a 5-2 win over Elite Baseball EBC while Bluechip secured a 9-5 win over the Lookouts. In the final, Bluechip proved to be too much for the Warriors, as Bluechip rolled to an 11-3 win.
Erwin
10u
Area Stars – Stanton went 2-0 in pool play on Saturday with a 11-1 win over the Carolina Cubs and a 10-2 win over the Carolina Raiders. The North Wake Rough Riders also went 2-0 in pool play with a 6-3 win over the Clinton Colts and a 9-3 win over the 9u Port City Lil Rebels. In bracket play, the Clinton Colts edged the Carolina Raiders 5-4 to reach the semifinals. In the semifinals, the Area Stars rolled over the Colts 11-1 while the Cleveland Wildcats dominated the Rough Riders 28-0. In the final, Area Stars proved to be too much for the Wildcats as they cruised to a 17-7 win.
11u
South Johnston went 2-0 in pool play with a 15-0 win over the Carolina Stars and a 16-1 win over the Walk Off Warriors. The Washington River Rats also went 2-0 on Saturday with a 17-2 win over the Carolina Stars and a 6-2 win over the Walk Off Warriors. In bracket play, South Johnston rolled to a 16-1 win over #4 seed Ballhogz while the River Rats secured an 8-3 win over #3 seed North Wake Avalanche. In the finals, South Johnston blanked the River Rats 8-0 to take home the crown.
Goldsboro/Snow Hill
8u
Dirtbags East went 2-0 in pool play dominating the East Carolina Bombers 16-1 and the 7u Rocky Mount Marshals 20-0. The Carolina Rampage also went 2-0 in pool play with a 11-6 win over the JoCo Spartans and a 18-2 win over East Coast Elite. In the play in games on Sunday, the JoCo Spartans beat the East Coast Elite 15-4 while the Bombers notched a 15-2 win over the 7u Marshals. In the semifinals, Dirtbags East was able to edge out the Spartans 15-14 while the Rampage rolled over the Bombers 15-6. In the finals, Dirtbags East blasted their way to a 23-15 win and a 4-0 weekend.
9u
Coach’s Box Broncos went 2-0 on Saturday in pool play with a 19-3 win over Rock Solid Blue and a 17-0 win over the JoCo Spartans to earn the top seed for bracket play. Dirtbags East earned the #2 seed after scoring a 15-0 win over the Carolina Armor and a 6-5 win over Cape Fear Elite EPJ on Saturday. 8u #6 Dirtbags Black went 1-1 playing up in the 9u kid pitch tournament, losing 23-8 to Cape Fear Elite EPJ but winning 15-0 over CCR. Although they did not qualify for the Gold bracket on Sunday, 8u Dirtbags Black was able to defeat the JoCo Spartants 13-10 and the Carolina Armor 5-4 on Sunday to secure a Silver bracket championship playing up. In the Gold bracket play-in games, the Rocky Mount Marshals topped Cape Fear Elite 9-6 while Area Stars – Roberts notched a 10-7 win over the Carolina Freedom. In the semifinals, Dirtbags East rolled over the Area Stars 15-0 while the Coach’s Box Broncos scored a 12-1 win over Rocky Mount. In a hard-fought finals game, the Broncos outlasted Dirtbags East 4-2 to take home the 9u Gold bracket title.
10u
The 10u age group featured two ranked team in #11 Dirtbags East and #16 NCDB Rivercats, and these two got to go head-to-head twice this weekend. In the opening game in pool play, NCDB was able to notch a 13-3 win over the Dirtbags. NCDB finished their pool play with a 15-0 win over the Carolina Pilots to secure the #1 seed for Sunday. The Dirtbags also topped the Pilots by the score of 13-5. Rock Solid Blue also went 2-0 in pool play with a 11-9 win over the Rocky Mount Raiders and a 10-6 win over the New Bern Flames to earn the #2 seed. In the play-in games, Dirtbags East rolled over the Flames 20-5 and the Pilots topped the Raiders 20-5. In the semifinal rematch, the Dirtbags were able to muscle past NCDB for a 14-8 win, while Rock Solid edged past the Pilots 8-7 to reach the finals. In the final, Dirtbags East continued their strong play with a 10-6 win over Rock Solid Blue.
11u
Carolina Titans Blue opened up pool play with an impressive 9-4 win over #11 Carolina Pilots, and followed that up with an 18-3 win over #15 CB Kings to earn the #1 seed for bracket play. The Pilots rebounded with a 7-2 win over the CB Kings and earned the #4 seed. North Wake Fungo went 2-0 in pool play with an 8-5 win over the Carolina Storm and a 6-4 win over Dirtbags East to earn the #2 seed. #16 Rock Solid Red lost 6-5 in their opening pool play game, but rebounded with a 10-2 win over the Storm which was good enough to secure the #3 seed for bracket play. On Sunday, the Titans topped the Pilots 8-4 while North Wake Fungo beat Rock Solid 10-2. In the finals, North Wake Fungo edged the Titans for a 12-11 win and a Gold bracket championship in an excellent field.
12u
The New Bern Flames went 2-0 on Saturday with a 18-7 win over Pirate Baseball and a 12-4 win over the TPA Nationals – Foster. On Sunday, they again topped the Nationals 13-1 in the semifinals and beat CB Elite 11-6 in the finals to finish 4-0 for the weekend.
13u
54/80
#6 Diamond Thieves were in the field and scored a 6-4 win over the South Wake Lightning and a 15-0 win over Tri-County Heat Baseball to go 2-0 in pool play and earn the #1 seed for Sunday. PITT413 also went 2-0 on Saturday with a 9-4 win over Heat Baseball and a 10-0 win over the Carolina Hawks. In the play-in games, the Dixon Bulldogs edged the Hawks 5-4 while the Heat topped the Lightning 17-4. In the semifinals, the Diamond Thieves blanked the Bulldogs 15-0 while PITT413 blanked the Heat 13-0 to set up a showdown in the finals. In the finals, the Diamond Thieves were able to secure a 7-2 victory.
60/90
Rawlings Prospects NC went 2-0 on Saturday with an 8-0 win over the South Wake Storm Red and a 12-2 win over Heat Baseball to earn the top seed for bracket play. The Heat beat the New Bern Naughty Boys 11-9 in their other pool play game, while the Naughty Boys scored a 13-5 win over the Storm in their other pool play game. In bracket play, Rawlings again topped the Storm 13-3 in their semifinal, while the Naughty Boys scored an 11-5 win over the Heat in their semifinal. In the finals, Rawlings edged past the New Bern Naughty Boys 8-7 to take home the title.
Greensboro
8u
The Carolina Young Guns scored a 14-1 win over the Alamance Dirtbagz and a 16-9 win over the Reidsville Luckies – Gold to reach the final in this one-day event. The Luckies also notched a 14-10 win over the HYAA Hawks, which was good enough to earn them a spot in the final. In the final, the Young Guns again topped the Luckies, this time by the score of 16-4.
12u
#1 East Rowan was in the field and they put on a show in this tournament. On Saturday, East Rowan notched a 16-1 win over Deep River Elite and a 33-0 win over the Randolph Rattlers. In bracket play on Sunday, East Rowan won their semifinal 9-7 in a rematch against Deep River. They then won the final 17-0 against the Carolina Voodoo. For the weekend, East Rowan outscored opponents 75-8 across 4 games.
Laurinburg/Pembroke
11u
#7 Team Ghost went 2-0 in pool play with a 7-6 win over the Diamond Dawgs and a 21-5 win over Area Stars – Derick. The NSA Thunder also went 2-0 in pool play, notching a 12-2 win over the Area Stars and a 8-7 win over the Diamond Dawgs. On Sunday, the Diamond Dawgs took out Team Ghost in their rematch 12-8 and the Thunder rolled by the Area Stars 14-4. In the final, the Thunder were able to secure another one-run victory over the Diamond Dawgs, this time by the score of 6-5. All-in-all, the Dawgs went 1-3 in this tournament with all 3 losses coming by 1 run.
12u
The Sandhills Stingrays went 12-0 on Saturday with a 13-3 win over the Walkoff Warriors and a 20-3 win over the NSA Phantoms. They continued their run this weekend with a 12-2 win over the Carolina Sluggers in the semifinals. In the other semifinal, the Walkoff Warriors also scored a 12-2 win over the Carolina Stars to reach the finals. The Stingrays were able to complete their undefeated weekend with a 12-11 win over the Walkoff Warriors in the finals.
Oakboro
8u
In the 8u age group, #4 Lake Norman Vipers continued their impressive run going 2-0 on Saturday with a 17-0 win over the Belmont Bandits and a 14-1 win over the Union County Crush – Bennett. They continued their dominant run on Sunday with a 14-2 win over the Anson Raptors in the semifinal and a 17-2 win over the Carrabus Bandits in the final. For the weekend, the Vipers went 4-0 and outscored their opponents a combined 62-5.
9u
#19 Union County Crush – Walker went 2-0 on Saturday blasting a 26-4 win over Inferno Baseball and a 23-8 win over Copperheads – Moffitt. On Sunday, they continued to dominate with a 15-0 win over Inferno Baseball in the semifinal and an 11-1 win over the Union County Crush – Allen in the final. Similar to the 8u Vipers, the Crush outscored their opponents a combined 75-13 in 4 games this weekend.
10u
Union County Crush – Homewood went 2-0 in pool play with a 20-2 win over Rocky River Rage and an 11-3 win over the GBC Prospects – Clark and earned the #1 seed for bracket play. The CSA Carrabus Chargers also went 2-0 in pool play scoring an 18-3 win over Crush – Henry and an 11-2 win over the GBC Prospects – Clark and earned the #2 seed for bracket play. In the play-in games, Aces – Hartsell edged the GBC Prospects – Clark 10-9 while the Rage topped the Crush – Henry 15-5. In the semifinals, Crush – Homewood topped Aces 10-2 while the Chargers edged the Rage 12-10. In the finals, Crush – Homewood outlasted the Chargers 14-7.