The Top Gun Winter World Series is set to take place in Rocky Mount from October 20-22. This is the first of a two weekend World Series event for Top Gun, with the 8u, 9u, 11u, 13u, and 15u age groups in action this weekend. 210 teams will be in action this weekend, hailing from North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland. Annually this is one of the biggest baseball tournaments in the state of North Carolina in the fall. Here we provide a preview of the upcoming World Series. One change for this year’s tournament is that there will be no play-in game for Gold and Silver brackets. This means that teams will be playing a maximum of 5 games, as opposed to the possible maximum of 6 in years past.
8u
17 teams will be playing in the 8u age group this year and this age group will be split into a 10 team D3 tournament, and a 7 team D1/D2 tournament. In the D1/D2 tournament, our #1 team, the Carolina Threshers will put their perfect 17-0 record on the line to face the best competition they have seen all season. The Threshers have an early fall 16-7 win over our #2 team in North Carolina, Dirtbags Black, and will go against the Virginia Beach Knights in game 1 and the Hickory Hitmen in game 2. The Knights are 9-7 on the fall season including 4 losses to the Hickory Hitmen. The Hitmen, from Chesapeake, VA bring a 15-3 record into the Winter World Series. The Dirtbags will also face off against the Knights and the Hitmen. 8u #3 West Raleigh Blue is also in the field and is matched up against the NCDB Rivercats and Greenville Athletics.
In the D3 tournament, our #9 Stix will be facing off against the Youngsville Phantoms and the Carolina Crushers. The Stix have had an up and down fall, but have an 11-5 record against some excellent competition this fall. They should be well prepared for this tournament. Our #10 team, the Leland Lugnuts, are also in the D3 field and will be facing the Cleveland Wildcats and the Carolina Freedom. The Lugnuts are 8-1 in USSSA play this fall and will be making their Top Gun debut.
9u
Although our #1 9u team, the Park Sharon Nationals, are not in the field this weekend, the 9u age group is absolutely loaded. The 9u age group is divided into an 8 team D1 division, an 11 team D2 division, and an 8 team D3 division. The D1 division is headlined by 9u #2 Dirtbags Black who are 15-3-1 in the fall will start their quest for the championship against the Virginia Stars – Colangelo and #15 Carolina Red Sox – Jones. The Red Sox will also face #20 Wilson Reds on day 1. 9u #3 West Raleigh Blue will also be in the D1 field. They are matched up against the Aldie Senators from Aldie, Virginia, and the Virginia Stars – Colangelo. The Senators are 14-2 on the fall season and should be a tough test on day 1 for West Raleigh. #5 NCDB Rivercats will start their tournament run against the Wilson Reds and #19 SBA Canes. This division will be hotly contested and pits some of the best teams in the state against one another.
The D2 division also features several teams in our top 20. #10 Neuse River Broncos will be looking for consistency as they head into the Winter World Series. Although they are 7-7 for the fall season, they have played an exceedingly competitive scheduled with two losses to #2 Dirtbags Black as well as two games against 10u opponents. They also have a win against #18 PITT413 to their credit this fall. They will go against GBI Express in game 1, followed by the Virginia Warriors on Saturday. #11 Smash Baseball, 15-3 in the fall, will be one of the headliners in the D2 division. They are matched up against #18 PITT413 and the Virginia Warriors in pool play. PITT413 is 8-6 in the fall in Top Gun play, but sports wins over #2o Wilson Reds twice and #13 Greenville Athletics – Scott. In addition to the Smash, PITT413 will play the Carolina Thunder. Greenville Athletics – Scott are also in the D2 field and will play MVP Red on Friday night followed by the Riegelwood Lumberjacks on Saturday morning.
The D3 division will feature the Stix, owners of a 10-1 record this fall, Winterville Warriors, and Bomberz Baseball. The Stix should be the favorite in the D3 division and will go against the Winterville Warriors and the Rocky Mount Marshals. Stix and Winterville have faced off once already this fall with the Stix coming away with a 15-2 victory in late September. The Stix also have two wins against Bomberz Baseball this fall placing the Stix as the heavy favorite to win this division.
11u
The 11u age group is absolutely loaded and should be one of the most exciting age groups across both Winter World Series weekends. There are 20 teams playing in the D1 division, 29 teams in the D2 division, and 14 teams in the D3 division. There will be a ton of baseball played between some great teams this weekend and this age group is wide open across all three divisions.
The D1 division features our #1 team, SBA Canes – Ross, #3 Evoshield Canes NC – Hood, #4 Evoshield Canes NC – Simpson, #6 Cleveland Wildcats, #8 Hitmen Baseball, #11 NSA 06 Elite, #14 MARA Cobras, #16 SBA Canes – Erwin, #17 Dynamite Stix, #18 NCDB Rivercats, and #19 West Raleigh Blue. If you’re scoring at home, that’s 11 of the top 20 11u teams in North Carolina in one tournament division. In addition, several excellent out-of-state teams will be in the field including the Carolina Bruins (SC), who are 15-2 this fall including a win over Evoshield Canes NC – Simpson, Team Dirty South Venom (VA) who are 14-2-1 this fall, the Williamsburg Revolution (VA) who are 14-6-1 this fall, and the Huguenot Red Legs who are 16-1 this fall. 10u #1 Evoshield Canes NC – Gilchrist, who is 14-0 this fall including two wins against 11u teams, is also in the D1 11u field. Needless to say the D1 division is absolutely loaded and because there are only two pool play games to determine Gold, Silver, and Bronze brackets, this division is wide open.
SBA Canes – Ross will get started Saturday morning against the Tidewater Horns (VA) before going head-to-head with the Huguenot Red Legs, in what might be a match up of the two top teams from NC and Virginia, respectively. Evoshield Canes – Hood will face the Dynamite Stix on Friday night followed by Team Dirty South Venom on Saturday afternoon. Evoshield Canes – Simpson will have two games on Saturday, going against the Tidewater Horns (who received an incredibly tough draw) and the Cleveland Wildcats. In addition to the Canes NC – Simpson, the Cleveland Wildcats will face Evoshield Canes 10u NC – Gilchrist on Friday night. Hitmen Baseball will get West Raleigh Blue on Friday night followed by the Huguenot Red Legs on Saturday. NSA 06 Elite will get NDCB in the opening game on Friday and SBA Canes – Erwin on Saturday, avoiding many of the top teams with their draw. The MARA Cobras will have two games on Saturday against the Carolina Bruins and Evoshield Canes – Cheetham (VA). In addition to NSA 06 Elite, SBA Canes – Erwin will play the Williamsburg Revolution early Saturday morning. The Dynamite Stix will get their shot at Evoshield Canes NC – Hood on Friday and turnaround to face the Carolina Bruins on Saturday. The NCDB Rivercats also avoided some of the top teams with their draw and will play Evoshield Canes – Cheetham (VA) on Saturday, in addition to NSA 06 Elite on Friday. As noted previously, West Raleigh Blue will go against Hitmen Baseball on Friday night and the Williamsburg Revolution on Saturday. Evoshield Canes 10u NC – Gilchrist will face the Cleveland Wildcats on Friday night and the SC Jets Black on Saturday. Do not write this team off because they are playing up an age group. They will be competitive in this tourney and have a chance to win the whole thing, although it will be a tall task. They are that good.
While the D2 tournament may not have the star power of the D1 division, there are still some great teams playing in the D2 division. There’s 29 teams in this division, so the Gold/Silver/Bronze/Copper breakdown will most likely come down to match-ups, as teams will have only two games to stake their claim in the Gold bracket. #20 Carolina Pilots, who have been up and down all fall, will play 14-8 Team Ghost on Friday and 11-4 Western Branch Havoc (VA) on Saturday. The SP Vipers could be another dark horse in this division. Although they are 8-7 this fall, they recently bested 11u #6 Cleveland Wildcats 13-8 and #17 Dynamite Stix 11-5, so they’ve shown they can compete with some of the best teams in the state. The Vipers will face the Diamond Hawks on Friday and the Mid-Atlantic Orioles – Caraher on Saturday. Greenville Athletics are another team I can see making a run in this division. They are 11-5 in Top Gun play this fall with wins over #6 Cleveland Wildcats, #20 Carolina Pilots, and the SP Vipers.
The D3 tournament will be very difficult to forecast. None of the 11u top 20 are playing in this division. 10u #17 Stix will be playing in this division and will face the Carolina Pirates and the Chatham Phoenix. I expect them to be competitive in this division. I expect Perquimans Rivercats to make a run in this division. They are 8-5 in Top Gun this fall with all of their losses coming against D1 or D2 competition. They have fared quite well when playing D3 competition, going 8-0. The Chatham Phoenix could be a surprise in this division. They come into the Winter World Series with a 13-6 record this fall, including wins over D2 Team Ghost, Garner Baseball, Durham Blues, and FBI Fungo. Beyond that I think the Carolina Muddawgs will be competitive. They are 10-4 this fall and have wins over multiple D3 teams this fall.
13u
The 13u age division is divided into 54/80 and 60/90 divisions. Within the 54/80 division there is a D1 tournament with 8 teams, a D2 tournament with 20 teams, and a D3 tournament with 15 teams. Within the 60/90 division there is a D1 tournament with 20 teams and a D2 tournament with 13 teams. Unfortunately that means many of the top teams are divided amongst the different divisions.
The 54/80 D1 division is headlined by #5 Diamond Thieves, #8 Akadema Knights Gray, #12 Greenville Athletics – Jones, and #14 Dirtbags Smith. The Warriors (SC) are another team to watch out for in this division, coming into this tournament with a 12-0 record this fall. There will only be a Gold Bracket for this division so all teams will still have a shot at the title on Sunday. The Diamond Thieves, who are 16-3 this fall in Top Gun play, will take on the 11-5 Walk Off Warriors on Friday night followed by a great match-up against 9-2 Greenville Athletics – Jones on Saturday. Akadema Knights Gray start with the Warriors and also will take on Next Level. In addition to the Diamond Thieves, Greenville Athletics – Jones will take on CDP-Derick on Friday night. Dirtbags Smith are matched up against Next Level and CDP-Derick.
The D2 division will be absolutely wide open. #20 Carolina Titans – Ambrose will look to get back to their winning ways after an 0-2 weekend in their last outing on 10/7/17. They come into the Winter World Series with an 11-3 record in Top Gun play this fall. They’ll face the North Wake Thunder in game 1 followed by the Youngsville Intimidators in game 2, which should be an excellent game. The Orange County Crushers will be another team to watch as they bring their 10-2 overall record to the tournament. They’ll be up against the Carolina Crusaders for Christ in their opening game and then PITT413. PITT413 could be one of the favorites with a 11-4 record in Top Gun play and some quality wins already several teams in the field such as the Five Star Wildcats and the Carolina Stingers. In addition to the Crushers, PITT413 will play the North Wake Nitro in pool play.
Like the D2 division, the D3 division appears to be wide open without a dominant team in the field. The North Wake Bandits are a team that has fared well against D3 competition this fall, going 9-1 this fall with their only loss coming against the Hammerheads, who are also one of the favorites in this D3 field with a 13-3 record this fall. The Bandits will take on the Connie Corey Hurricanes and the South Wake Lightning in pool play. The Hammerheads will be up against the New Bern Naughty Boys and the Connie Corey Hurricanes. The 12u Carolina Titans will also be playing up in this division and will go against the Neuse River Broncos and Clayton Cyclones. I should also point out that many of these have played one another and have mixed results so the playing field is quite level. For instance, one of the Hammerheads’ 3 losses this year came against the 6-4 Neuse River Broncos by the score of 12-1. Consequently it’s difficult to feel strongly about any one team in the D3 field.
Outside of the D1 11u division, the 60/90 D1 13u division will be the most exciting division this weekend. This division features all of our top five teams in the state (#1 Evoshield Canes NC – Gallaher, #2 Evoshield Canes NC – Haire, #3 East Coast Clippers, #4 Charlotte Nationals, and #5 NCDB Rivercats). This division also features #9 Dirtbags Black and #11 Holly Springs Rage Black – Ferreira. The Canes – Gallaher will face off against Holly Springs Rage and Virginia Stars – Colangelo. Canes – Haire will be up against the RBA West Evoshield Seminoles (VA), who are 8-3-1 for the fall season, and the Tidewater Outlaws (VA), who are 4-3 in the fall season. The East Coast Clippers will put their 11-1 record on the line against Dirtbags Black, and the Mid-Atlantic Orioles – Tatro, who are 6-7-1 this fall. The Charlotte Nationals will bring their 14-1 record to the Winter World Series and go up against the Holly Springs Rage and Virginia Stars – Colangelo. NCDB will be facing The Performance Academy – Foster on Friday and MVP Terps Black (VA) on Saturday. In addition to the East Coast Clippers, the Dirtbags will also play against Rise – Hauser (VA), who are 8-3-1 this fall. From the looks of things, Holly Springs and Virginia Stars – Colangelo received tough draws, both going up against #1 Evoshield Canes NC – Gallaher and #4 Charlotte Nationals. The top 8 teams will make the Gold bracket, so Friday and Saturday are going to be pressure-packed.
In the 60/90 D2 tournament, #14 Carolina Naturals looks to be the top team from the state of North Carolina. They come in with a 13-7 record in Top Gun and will face the Carolina Rage and Purpose Driven. The Carolina Rage are 8-3 in Top Gun play this fall and will the Beach Bulldogs in addition to the Naturals. The Rawlings Prospects are 6-4 this fall and will play Purpose Driven on Friday and the Virginia Blacksox on Saturday. Although the Naturals might, on paper, look like the team to beat, it’s difficult to know how to assess the Virginia teams. 7 out of the 13 teams in the D2 division are from Virginia.