Top Gun Winter World Series (8u, 9u, 11u, & 13u) Preview 2019

Over two dozen ranked teams will compete across 4 age groups in the first weekend of one of the biggest youth baseball events of the fall season this weekend at the Top Gun Winter World Series (WWS). #1 teams in our 8u (West Raleigh Blue) and 9u (East Rowan) age groups will be in action, as will multiple teams in our top 5 and 10s in their respective age groups. In addition, teams from Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia will also be making the trip to the Rocky Mount area to face off against some of North Carolina's best competition this weekend. Here we provide a brief preview of the weekend's games as well as make some championship predictions.

 

8u

The 8u Hybrid division is a 16-team division, of which 5 teams are currently ranked in our top 11. This includes #1 West Raleigh Blue, #6 Area Stars Orange, #7 NCDB Rivercats, #10 Carolina Thunder, and #11 Greenville Athletics. In addition, the Western Tidewater Rage and Western Branch Bruins Gold will make the trip down from Virginia for the weekend. The Rage currently sit at 4-1 this fall,  while the Bruins are 12-1 this fall and look to be one of the favorites heading into this event. #1 West Raleigh Blue will bring their 6-2 record into the WWS. Although they look like the favorite as far as NC teams go, they'll face stiff competition. This is still an interesting time for the 8u age group as most of these teams are brand new and have only played a few games. It's difficult, therefore, to know exactly what to expect from any one of these teams. West Raleigh has a bit of an advantage having played together in the spring as a 7u team, so we'd expect that to manifest this weekend.

Predicted champion: Western Branch Bruins Gold

 

9u
9u #1 East Rowan will look to put a stamp on their impressive fall season with a tournament win at the Top Gun WWS this weekend.

In the 5-team D1 division, #1 East Rowan, #3 Dirtbags Black, #4 West Raleigh Blue, and #5 Dirtbags East will all be in action as will Western Tidewater Rage from Virginia. Dirtbags Black and West Raleigh have already faced off 4 times this fall, splitting the contests with 2 wins apiece. Dirtbags East will bring a 16-3 record into this event and looks to be as hot as anyone in the field. #1 East Rowan owns a 15-1 record this fall, with their only loss coming at the 10u level. Every game will be huge in this event, but with only the #1 seed getting a bye on Sunday, there will be some extra incentive to earn that top spot.

Predicted champion: East Rowan

 

In the D2 division, 4 ranked teams (#6 Area Stars Orange, #7 Greenville Athletics Black, #11 NCDB Rivercats, and #15 Canes Baseball NC - Hartman) highlight the 10-team field. There will only be one match up of ranked teams (NCDB vs. Canes - Hartman) in pool play and only the top 6 teams will make the Gold bracket. Greenville Athletics brings a 5-2 record into the WWS, including a win over #4 West Raleigh Blue. The Area Stars are an impressive 13-2 in the early fall season, and look to be one of the favorites heading into this event. The Rivercats could also contend here and are 9-2 thus far this fall season.

Predicted champion: Area Stars Orange

 

 

11u

The 11u D1 division features 11 total teams, including 5 teams ranked in our top 20 as well as Team 24 Gamecocks - Ashley, who might be the top team in South Carolina. In addition, the 9-3-1 Frederick Hustlers have made the trip down from Maryland and the 12-5 Aldie Senators will be here from Virginia. #4 West Raleigh Blue is the highest ranked teams from NC in the field, followed by #6 Dirtbags Black, #11 East Carolina Tribe - Brannan, #13 Summerfield Stars, and #19 Greenville Athletics - Scott. In addition, 3 teams who have routinely been ranked in this age group but currently sit just outside of the top 20 (Carolina Titans, Dirtbags East, and NCDB Rivercats) will also compete in the D1 division. West Raleigh has only played 4 games this fall with all 4 coming against teams in our top 6 in this age group. Only 6 teams will make the Gold bracket so teams will have to be ready to go at the start of pool play. A Friday night game between ranked opponents (Dirtbags Black and Greenville Athletics - Scott) should get this division started off on an interesting note.

Predicted champion: Team 24 Gamecocks - Ashley

 

In the D2 division, 22 teams will compete with the top 16 seeds facing off in play-in games after a game pool play. #12 Garner Royals are the highest ranked team in the field and they'll bring the 10-1 record into the WWS and take on Wilson Baseball - Battle and the Riegelwood Lumberjacks in pool play. They'll face a handful of quality opponents looking to upset them including GRIT, Area Stars - Derick and Orange, the Carolina Freedom, and MVP Red, just to name a few. In addition, the TopHand Reds, the 7-1-1 New Kent Giants, the 4-2-1 Western Tidewater Rage, and the 8-13-2 Virginia Beach Knights are all coming down from Virginia looking to take home a WWS crown.

Predicted champion: Garner Royals

 

 

13u

65 teams will compete across 4 different 13u divisions this weekend at the WWS. In the 60/90 D1 division, 5 ranked teams from NC (#3 Canes Baseball NC - Simpson, #13 Rock Solid Red, #14 Carolina Titans Blue, #15 Carolina Rage, and #16 Team Elite American) as well as several quality teams from Virginia (Rock Solid Drillers - Rupe/Stubbe and - Conroy, Team Dirty South Bats Venom, Stars Baseball - Justice, Richmond Braves American, and Hit Doctor Red Legs), Georgia (Bonaire Force Baseball Club), and Maryland (Mid Atlantic Red Sox) will compete for one of 8 spots in the Gold/Silver bracket play-in games. There will be several interesting pool play games to follow including Canes - Simpson vs. Bonaire at noon on Saturday, Team Elite American facing both Rock Solid Drillers teams, Team Dirty South Bats against Richmond Braves American, and Rock Solid Red going up against the Rage and Bonaire in their two pool play games. This is a tough division to call as we think a half-dozen or more teams have a legitimate shot at the title. In the end, we'll go with the Team Dirty South Bats Venom to take home the title on Sunday.

Predicted champion: Team Dirty South Bats Venom

 

In the D2 60/90 division, 16 will face off with all 16 having a chance at a Gold bracket spot in the play-in games on Saturday. No ranked teams will be in the field, which is comprised of 11 teams from North Carolina and 5 from Virginia. There will be several teams with an inside track to the title here, including teams such as the Perquimans Rivercats, Hill City Sliders (VA), Carolina Rage Red, and the Washington River Rats, who have all produced some results this fall and previously against D1 competition. This is an extremely difficult division to predict, but we'll go with the Hill City Sliders here as they seem to have the most experience against D1-level competition over the past several seasons.

Predicted champion: Hill City Sliders

 

10 teams will battle it out in the 54/80 Open division this weekend in Greensboro. There are several teams with a legitimate shot here, led by #17 Team Ghost who boast a 19-1 record thus far this fall. 13-2 EC Diamondbacks - Bass could also make some noise in this division come Sunday, and these two have already faced off once this fall with Team Ghost scoring an 8-6 win over the Diamondbacks just last week. The Walk Off Warriors could also be a contender, but will have to bounce back from a 1-3 weekend in their most recent event 2 weeks ago. The Greensboro Nationals, who are 13-2 thus far this fall, could also be a contender in this division. Team Ghost has been the most consistent team in the field thus far this fall and were going with them as our champion. However, we expect this to be a very competitive division, as Team Ghost has played several close games already this fall with teams in this field.

Predicted champion: Team Ghost