Over 90 teams were in action across Wake County in the Top Gun event last weekend. Some of the best teams in North Carolina, such as 9u Dirtbags Black who finished #2 in the 8u rankings last year, and 13u Canes Baseball Eastern NC, who finished #1 in our 12u rankings this past year, were in the fields. Several age groups including 11u and 13u saw multiple top 10 and 20 teams from last year go head-to-head. Here is a recap of the weekend's Top Gun games across Wake County.
9u
Dirtbags Black, who finished the 2017-2018 seasons #2 in our 8u rankings, went 2-0 in pool play this past weekend with a 12-2 win over East Coast Elite and a 16-0 win over Carolina Thunder Gold. The Garner Generals went 0-2 in pool play with a 16-3 loss against East Coast Elite and a 13-10 loss against the Carolina Thunder Gold. In the play-in game on Sunday, the Cleveland Wildcats notched a 17-3 win over the Garner Generals. In the semifinals, Dirtbags Black scored a 13-3 win over the Cleveland Wildcats and Carolina Thunder Gold notched a 6-4 win over East Coast Elite. In the finals, Dirtbags Black finished a 4-0 weekend with a 10-0 win over Carolina Thunder Gold.
11u
Open
In the 11u open division, West Raleigh Blue, who finished the 2017-2018 season #4 in our 10u rankings, opened up pool play 2-0 with an 8-7 win over Rock Solid Red, who finished #11 in last year's 10u rankings, and an 11-3 win over Area Stars - Stanton. The Rawlings Prospects earned the #1 seed for bracket play, going 2-0 on Saturday with a 12-2 win over the Carolina Outlaws, and a 6-3 win over DPC Baseball Gold. The Wendell Knights, who finished #13 in last years's 10u rankings, went 1-1 in pool play with an 11-9 loss against Dirtbags Platinum and a 7-6 win against Rock Solid Red, but failed to qualify for the Gold bracket. In the Gold bracket play-in game, #4 seed Area Stars - Stanton fell to #5 seed Carolina Outlaws 7-5. In the semifinals, West Raleigh Blue scored a 12-2 win over Dirtbags Platinum while the Rawlings Prospects edged the Outlaws 5-3. In the finals, West Raleigh Blue finished off a 4-0 weekend with an 11-8 win over the Rawlings Prospects.
D3
12 teams faced off in the D3 field this past weekend in Wake County. The Richmond Raiders (VA) went 2-0 in pool play with a 12-4 win over the Carolina Dodgers and a 9-5 win over the HYAA Hawks. The Orange County Crushers also went 2-0 in pool play with a 12-4 win over the Triangle Sports Hawks and a 12-8 win over the Wendell Sluggers. In the Gold bracket play-in game, the Bomb Squad notched a 13-2 win over the Garner Generals. In the semifinals, the Raiders scored a 15-3 win over the Bomb Squad while the Crushers topped the PC Dynamite 5-2. In the finals, the Raiders finished off an undefeated weekend with a 13-6 win over the Orange County Crushers.
12u
D1
In the 5-team open division, Rock Solid Red, who finished #18 in last year's 11u rankings, went 0-2 in pool play with a 6-5 loss against Canes Baseball VA - Serrano and a 7-6 loss against the Carolina Rage. Canes - Serrano scored a 13-1 win over the Riptide in their other pool play game while the Rage notched a 6-5 win over NSA 06 Elite in their other pool play game. NSA Elite scored a 13-4 win over the Riptide in their other pool play game. In the #4/5 play-in game, Rock Solid notched an 11-4 win over the Riptide. In the semifinals, the Rage scored a 13-2 win over NSA 06 Elite while Rock Solid Red edged Canes - Serrano 3-2. In a high scoring finals, Rock Solid Red outlasted the Carolina Rage 22-14 to finish off the comeback from an 0-2 Saturday.
Open
In the 11-team open division, Purpose Driven South earned the #1 seed for bracket play with a 10-0 win over Hit & Run Fuquay Varina and a 16-1 win over the South Wake Storm. The Hill City Sliders earned the #2 seed with a 5-1 win over the Durham Blues and a 10-2 win over the South Wake Storm. The Blues scored a 13-3 win over Hit & Run in their other pool play game to finish with the #5 seed in the Gold bracket. In the #4/5 play-in game, the Blues edged the Wendell Sharks 7-5. In the #3/6 play-in game, South Johnston rolled to a 12-2 win over the Greensboro Nationals. In the semifinals, the Durham Blues blanked Purpose Driven 5-0 while the Sliders scored a 3-0 win over South Johnston. In the finals, the Durham Blues edged the Hill City Sliders 4-3 to take home the 12u Open title.
13u
54/80 D1
5 teams faced off in a single round-robin event in Wake County this past weekend. The Sanford Cobras, who finished #10 in our 12u rankings this past year, went 2-0 on Saturday with a 12-9 win over the NCDB Rivercats - B, and a 10-9 win over the East Coast Clippers. Carolina Titans - Wilson, who finished #16 in last year's 12u rankings, went 2-0 on Saturday as well with a 7-2 win over NCDB - B and a 4-0 win over the Sandhills Stingrays - Hofstetler. On Sunday, the Cobras again went 2-0 with a 7-0 win over the Stingrays and a 4-3 win over the Titans, and took home the title with an overall record of 4-0 for the weekend. Carolina Titans - Wilson finished 3-1 with a 9-1 win over the East Coast Clippers on Sunday.
54/80 D2
Deep River Elite earned the top seed for bracket play with a 10-2 win over the Carolina Voodoo and a 15-3 win over the Fuquay Bengals in pool play. The Tri-County Arsenal earned the #2 seed for bracket play with an 8-7 win over the Orange County Crushers Orange and a 9-1 win over the Wayne County Arsenal. In the #4/5 play-in game, the Carolina Freedom notched a 13-8 win over the Carolina Voodoo. In the #3/6 play-in game, Area Stars - Hughes scored a 9-5 win over the HYAA Hawks. In the semifinals, Deep River Elite blanked the Freedom 8-0 and Tri-County Arsenal notched a 10-2 win over the Area Stars. In the finals, Tri-County finished off a 4-0 weekend with a 9-2 win over Deep River Elite.
54/80 D3
14 teams battled it out in the 54/80 D3 division this past weekend. Gettin Dirty earned the #1 seed for bracket play after a 7-2 win over EC Diamondbacks - Bass and a 10-1 win over the Cary Wildcats. The Durham Blues earned the #2 seed for bracket play with a 12-3 win over the Southwestern Wake Sliders and a 6-1 win over the Wardogs. The Carolina Stars earned the #3 seed with a 7-2 win over the Garner Generals and a 13-3 win over the North Raleigh Tsunami. In the #4/5 play-in game on Sunday, the Diamondbacks topped the North Wake Hurricanes 5-3. In the #3/6 play-in game, the Carolina Stars topped the Wardogs 5-3. In the semifinals, Gettin Dirty scored a 13-3 win over the Diamondbacks and the Carolina Stars topped the Durham Blues 12-3. In the finals, Gettin Dirty notched a 14-4 win over the Carolina Stars.
60/90 D1
5 teams made up the 60/90 D1 division and competed in a single round-robin event. Canes Baseball Eastern NC, formerly Legends Baseball who finished #1 in our 2017-2018 12u rankings, went 2-0 on Saturday with an 11-2 win over Rawlings Prospects NC 2024 and a 12-2 win over Dirtbags Black Raleigh. The NCDB Rivercats, who finished #13 in our final 12u rankings last year, also went 2-0 on Saturday with a 9-6 win over the TPA Nationals - Christman (formerly West Raleigh Blue, who finished #15 in our 12u rankings this past year), and a 7-5 win over Dirtbags Black Raleigh. The TPA Nationals also scored a 13-1 win over the Rawlings Prospects on Saturday. On Sunday, NCDB topped Canes Baseball Eastern NC 6-3 but fell 5-4 against Rawlings Prospects NC 2024 to finish 3-1 for the weekend. The Canes scored a 9-4 win over the TPA Nationals in their other game on Sunday and also finished 3-1. The Dirtbags finished 1-1 on Sunday and 1-3 overall with a 10-0 loss against the TPA Nationals and a 9-2 win over the Rawlings Prospects.