Top Gun Summer World Series Weekend #1 Preview 2018

Perhaps the biggest youth baseball tournament in North Carolina has arrived. Split over two weekends, the Top Gun Summer World Series attracts over 300 teams from 5 states including North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia. In the first weekend, the 8u, 9u, 11u, and 13u (and 15u) age groups will be in action. Dozens of our top 20 teams in all the age groups will be in action this weekend. Take a look at our preview of this weekend's Summer World Series games.

8u
Open
Co #1 Carolina Threshers will look to settle the debate over who the top 8u team in NC is. With our top 3 8u teams all in the field this weekend, we should learn a lot about these teams.

Each of the 11 teams in the 8u Open division will play 4 pool play games to determine seeding for bracket play. Only the top 6 seeds will make the Gold bracket. With our co-#1's, #3, #7, #9, and #12 teams in the field, this tournament will go a long way towards determining the top 8u team in the state of North Carolina. Co-#1 Carolina Threshers will bring their 44-2 record to the SWS with the hopes of staking their claim as the undisputed #1 8u team in North Carolina. They'll face GRIT and #9 Dirtbags East on Friday and follow that up with a rematch of the WWS final against #3 West Raleigh and a match up with #12 Greenville Athletics in their Saturday pool play games. Co-#1 Dirtbags Black will take on #7 NCDB Rivercats, Union County Crush - Gadd, GRIT, and the Tega Cay Titans (SC). West Raleigh Blue is matched up against GRIT (who drew an incredibly difficult schedule) and the Tega Cay Titans on Friday, and a game against previously ranked Youngsville Phantoms as well as their heavily anticipated match up with the Threshers on Saturday. The Rivercats will go against Union County Crush - Gadd in addition to Dirtbags Black on Friday. On Saturday, the Rivercats will take on West Raleigh Red and Dirtbags East in their final two pool play games. In addition to the Threshers and the NCDB Rivercats, Dirtbags East will also face the Tega Cay Titans and West Raleigh Red in pool play. Greenville Athletics will take on the Youngsville Phantoms and West Raleigh Red on Friday and go against Union County Crush - Gadd in addition to the Threshers on Saturday in pool play.

D3

13 teams are in the D3 8u field this weekend. #15 FV Wildcats will take on 7u West Raleigh Blue and the Carolina Crushers on Friday. On Saturday, the FV Wildcats will take on the Carolina Freedom and the Carolina Rampage. West Raleigh Blue will also take on Carolina Crushers on Friday and Cleveland Wildcats Black and Rocky Mount Marshals 2028 on Saturday. North Wake Fungo is also in the D3 field this weekend and will face the East Carolina Bombers and the Weddington Wolves on Friday. They'll follow that up with games against the Carolina Crushers and the Rocky Mount Marshals 2029.

 

 

9u
D1

The 9u D1 field features 5 teams in our top 20 including #3 Dirtbags Black, #6 Coach's Box Broncos, #9 Smash Baseball, #16 West Raleigh Blue, and #18 NCDB Rivercats as well as previously ranked Coastal Cyclones. The top 6 teams after 4 pool play games will make the Gold bracket on Sunday. Dirtbags Black will take on Smash Baseball and the Coastal Cyclones on Friday, and West Raleigh Blue and Line Drive Black (GA) on Saturday. The Broncos will face West Raleigh Blue and the NCDB Rivercats on Friday and Smash Baseball and the Virginia Stars - Colangelo on Saturday. Smash Baseball will go against Virginia Stars - Colangelo in addition to Dirtbags Black on Friday. On Saturday, Smash will take on West Raleigh Blue in addition to their game against the Broncos. West Raleigh Blue is matched up against the Aldie Senators (VA) in addition to their game against the Broncos on Friday and their games against the Dirtbags and Smash Baseball on Saturday. The Rivercats will take on Union County Crush - Walker in addition to the Broncos on Friday. They will face the Aldie Senators and Line Drive Black in their pool play games on Saturday.

D2

11 teams are in the 9u field this weekend including #13 Dirtbags East, #14 Carolina Titans, and #19 Rock Solid Red. 6 teams will make the Gold bracket on Sunday. Dirtbags East is matched up against the North Wake Warriors and GBI Express on Friday, and will face West Raleigh Red and the Carolina Thunder in pool play on Saturday. The Titans will face off against CCR and Rock Solid Red on Friday. On Saturday, the Carolina Titans will match up against the North Wake Warriors and GBI Express on Saturday in pool play. Rock Solid Red will face CCR in addition to the Titans on Friday in pool play. On Saturday, Rock Solid will take on the Wilson Reds and Line Drive Cam0 (GA) in their two pool play games on Saturday.

D3

11 teams will play in the 9u D3 division this weekend. 6 teams will make the Gold bracket, with the remaining 5 going to the Silver bracket. It should be a competitive division, with teams such as Area Stars - Roberts and the Carolina Freedom leading the way. The Area Stars will face the Freedom in their first game in pool play on Friday. They'll take on the Carolina Diamondbacks on Friday as well. On Saturday, the Area Stars will go against the Wayne County Arsenal - Futures and the JoCo Spartans. The Freedom will match up with the Diamondback as well in pool play on Friday. On Saturday, they'll take on the Rocky Mount Marshals 2027 and the Fauquier Raiders (VA).

11u
D1

10 teams comprise the D1 11u division this weekend, and all 10 will have a spot in the Gold bracket. #8 Cleveland Wildcats Elite, #16 NCDB Rivercats, #20 Dirtbags East, as well as recently ranked Carolina Pilots and Team Ghost headline the North Carolina Teams in the field. Team Dirty South Bats Venom and the Huguenot Red Legs, two of the best teams in Virginia, will also make the trip down and should be in contention for the title. On Friday, the Cleveland Wildcats will take on the Carolina Pilots and West Raleigh Blue. On Saturday, they are matched up against Team Dirty South and the Rawlings Stars NC Prospects. NCDB will face West Raleigh Blue and the Carolina Pilots in their pool play games on Friday. On Saturday, they'll take on the Georgia Generals and Dirtbags East. Dirtbags East is matched up against the Hugeunot Red Legs and the Georgia Generals on Friday. On Saturday, they'll face Team Ghost in addition to the Rivercats.

D2

The D2 field featured 23 teams, with the top 8 making the Gold bracket. With that many teams in the field, anything can happen. The #20 HM Kings have been playing some good baseball of late, and should be one of those teams contending for the title on Sunday. They'll take on Purpose Driven North and GRIT on Friday in pool play. In their Saturday pool play games, they'll take on an excellent Hill City Sliders (VA) team and the Chatham Phoenix. The Alamance Angels are another team who could make a run in the D2 field this weekend. They are matched up against the Carolina Rage and the Virginia Blacksox on Friday and Purpose Driven South and West Raleigh Grey on Saturday.

D3

The 11u D3 field also has 23 teams entered, including 19 from North Carolina and 4 from Virginia. 10u #6 Dirtbags East will be playing up this weekend and will take on the Washington River Rats and the Triangle Sports Hawks on Friday. They'll go against the Virginia Raptors and the 10u Walk Off Academy Warriors in their pool play games on Saturday. The Grand Slam USA Stars from Indian Trail should also make some noise this weekend. They'll face the Triangle Sports Hawks and RBA Prep Green (VA) on Friday. On Saturday, they'll go against the Carolina Pirates - Marut and the Carolina Pirates - Long.

 

 

13u
D1 60/90
13u #1 Canes Baseball NC - Gallaher will look for another Top Gun World Series title this weekend in the D1 60/90 division.

The 60/90 D1 field is absolutely loaded with top teams with 7 of the top 10 teams in North Carolina including #1 Canes Baseball NC - Gallaher, #2 Canes Baseball NC - Haire, #4 NCDB Rivercats, #5 East Coast Clippers, #6 Carolina Havoc - Clonch, #8 Dirtbags - Smith, and #9 Diamond Thieves all in the field. In addition, #13 Carolina Naturals, #14 Rawlings Prospects NC, #16 Walk Off Warriors, and #18 Carolina Rage are also in action this weekend. The Mid Atlantic Pirates (VA), who finished as runner up at the WWS, are also in this field this weekend. Only 8 teams will make the Gold bracket, so someone is going to be left out. Canes - Gallaher will take on the Virginia Stars - Colangelo and the RBA Southies (VA) on Friday, followed by the Carolina Havoc - Clonch and the Walk Off Warriors on Saturday. Canes - Haire will face the East Coast Clippers and Havoc - Clonch on Friday, and the Diamond Thieves and Canes 757 - Chalk on Saturday. The NCDB Rivercats are matched up with the Carolina Rage and Canes - McDonald (VA) on Friday. They'll take on the RBA Southies and the Rawlings Prospects NC on Saturday.

In addition to Canes - Haire, the Clippers are matched up with the Tidewater Drillers on Friday. They'll face the Mid Atlantic Pirates and Canes 757 - Chalk in their pool play games on Saturday. Of note, the Mid Atlantic Pirates scored a 15-6 win over the Clippers at the Triple Crown Border Wars earlier this spring. In addition to their pool play games against Canes - Haire and and Canes - Gallaher, the Carolina Havoc will take on the Tidewater Drillers on Friday and Canes - McDonald on Saturday. Dirtbags - Smith is matched up against the Walk Off Warriors and Canes 757 - Chalk on Friday, and Virginia Stars - Colangelo and the Carolina Naturals on Saturday. The Diamond Thieves will take on the Naturals and Stars - Colangelo in their pool play games on Friday. On Saturday, they'll face the Mid Atlantic Pirates in addition to Canes - Haire. In addition to games against the Thieves and Dirtbags - Smith, the Naturals are matched up against the RBA Southies on Friday and the Carolina Rage on Saturday in pool play. The Rawlings Prospects will look to make a big statement this weekend and will start with the Carolina Rage and the Mid Atlantic Pirates on Friday. They'll go against the RBA Southies and NCDB on Saturday. The Walk Off Warriors are set to take on Canes 757 - Chalk in addition to Dirtbags - Smith on Friday, and the Tidewater Drillers and Canes - Gallaher on Saturday. The Carolina Rage will face Stars - Colangelo on Saturday in addition to the Prospects and Rivercats on Friday and the Naturals on Saturday.

D2 60/90

The D2 60/90 division will feature 15 teams, including 10 from North Carolina, 4 from Virginia, and 1 from South Carolina. Previously ranked Youngsville Intimidators will go against Carolina Titans - Ambrose and Rock Solid Blue in their two Friday games. On Saturday, they'll take on RBA South Phillies (VA) and CSB (SC). Titans - Ambrose will go against the West Raleigh Skeeters in addition to the Intimidators on Friday. On Saturday, they'll face Rock Solid Blue and CSB. The TPA Nationals - Foster are another team to watch this weekend in the D2 60/90 division. They'll take on Purpose Driven and Heat Baseball on Friday. On Saturday, they'll face Team VA and the RBA South Nationals (VA).

Open 54/80

8 teams will play in the 54/80 Open division this weekend, and all 8 will have a chance in the Gold bracket on Sunday. Previously ranked PITT413 should be one of the top contenders in this division. They'll take on the Clayton Cyclones and the South Wake Storm Red on Friday. On Saturday, they'll match up against the 12u Rawlings Prospects and the Five Star Wildcats. The Clayton Cyclones are another team to follow closely this weekend. In addition to PITT413, they'll face the South Wake Storm Red on Friday. On Saturday, the Cyclones will go against the North Wake Bandits and the RBI Raptors.

D3 54/80

The D3 54/80 division will have 12 teams with just the top 8 getting into the Gold bracket on Sunday. The Neuse River Broncos should be one of the top competitors this weekend in this division. They'll go against the Hammerheads and the New Bern Naughty Boys on Friday. On Saturday, they'll take on the Holly Springs Rage and the Raleigh Fury. The Hammerheads also look to be one of the tougher teams in the field. They'll face the Carolina Makos, in addition to the Broncos, on Friday. On Saturday, they'll take on the Raleigh 9 and the Fuquay Bengals.