Top Gun Winter World Series (10u & 12u) Recap 2019

21 ranked teams across the 10u and 12u age groups, and 207 teams in total made their way to the 2nd weekend of the Top Gun Winter World Series. There were some huge match ups between ranked teams, cases made for changes to the rankings, as well as some impressive showings from previously unranked teams. Here we recap a great weekend of baseball from this past weekend.

 

10u

It was an impressive field this weekend in the 10u age group with 9 of our top 11 teams in North Carolina and 10 of the top 20 all in the D1 division. Our #1 team, the SBA Futures, went 2-0 in pool play with a 5-2 win over #9 LBC Swarm and an 11-3 win over #7 Summerfield Stars. This earned the Futures the #2 seed for the play-in games on Saturday. The Swarm notched a 9-2 win over Virginia Stars Baseball - Nardone in their other pool play game and received the #5 seed for the play-in game. Summerfield fell 3-2 against Stars - Nardone and was relegated to the Bronze bracket for Sunday. #2 Dirtbags Black earned the #1 seed with a 15-3 win over #5 HPT HiToms and a 13-2 win over Western Tidewater Rage. The HiToms fell 11-10 against Western Tidewater in their other pool play game and ended up in the Bronze bracket on Sunday. #8 NCABC Fungo - Piscorik earned the #3 seed with a 10-2 win over Canes 757 - Celata and an 8-5 win over #17 NCDB Rivercats in pool play. #4 Triple Crown Lookouts scored the #4 seed for the play-in game with a 7-6 win over #11 West Raleigh Blue and a 16-5 win over #3 Canes Baseball NC - Harris. The Canes topped East Coast Elite 10-4 in their other pool play game but did not make the top 8 seeds for the play-in game. West Raleigh fell 7-5 against East Coast Elite and also ended up in the Bronze bracket.

In the play-in games on Saturday, #1 seed Dirtbags Black topped #8 seed East Coast Elite 7-1, #2 seed SBA Futures blasted their way to an 11-4 win over #7 seed NCDB Rivercats, #3 seed Fungo - Piscorik blanked Stars - Nardone 9-0 and #5 seed LBC Swarm rolled to a 19-2 win over #4 seed Triple Crown Lookouts. In the Gold bracket semifinals, the SBA Futures edged Fungo - Piscorik 2-1 and Dirtbags Black notched an 8-4 win over the Swarm. In the finals, the SBA Futures scored 5 runs in the first extra inning and took home an 11-6 win over Dirtbags Black.

Predicted champion: SBA Futures

Champion: SBA Futures

 

Instant Analysis: The SBA Futures went 5-0 this weekend and moved to 12-0 for the fall season, cementing their status as the top team in this age group. #2 Dirtbags Black finished 17-2 this fall, and is right behind the Futures. After that, things are a bit less clear. The Triple Crown Lookouts went 24-2 this fall, but suffered a big defeat against the LBC Swarm in the play-in game. They did, however, bounce back nicely to win the Silver bracket on Sunday and probably locked themselves in at #3 this fall. We'll have a little bit of work to do to sort out the rest of the top 20 as there was some great competition in the 10u age group this fall.

 

In the D2 field, Dirtbags East scored the #1 seed for the play-in game with a 7-5 win over the FV Wildcats and a 17-3 win over Dry Pond Baseball. The #2 seed went to #20 Area Stars Orange after they defeated Next Level/JG 6-5 and Concord Athletics - McElhinny 6-4. Next Level scored an 8-2 win over HYAA Hawks - Sykes in their other pool play game and earned the #3 seed. They HYAA Hawks topped #12 Dirt Devils 6-1 in their other pool play game and earned the #4 seed. The Dirt Devils received the #5 for the play-in games with a 15-4 win over #14 Carolina Titans - Ambrose in addition to their loss agains the Hawks.

In the play-in games, #1 seed Dirtbags East scored a 10-3 win over #8 seed NSA Select, #2 seed Area Stars Orange edged #7 seed East Coast Clippers 11-7, #3 seed Next Level/JG fell 9-6 against #6 seed FV Wildcats, and #4 seed fell 10-1 in a rematch against #5 seed Dirt Devils. In the Gold bracket semifinals, Area Stars Orange topped the FV Wildcats 13-3 and Dirtbags East got past the Dirt Devils 5-3. In the finals, Dirtbags East finished off a 5-0 weekend with a 16-6 win over Area Stars Orange.

Predicted champion: Dirt Devils

Champion: Dirtbags East

 

Instant Analysis: Dirtbags East went an impressive 5-0 to move to 14-5-1 this fall. After starting the season 2-2, they went 12-3-1 over the last 16 games, culminating in the D2 title this weekend demonstrating continued progression throughout the fall. They will be an interesting team to watch this spring. The Dirt Devils reached the Gold bracket semifinals, but finished 2-2 for the weekend with two losses against unranked teams. The Area Stars also had a nice run, going 4-1, with their only loss coming against Dirtbags East in the finals.

 

 

12u
The Rawlings Prospects staked their claim to be #1 in the 12u age group with a Gold bracket title at the Top Gun WWS.

In one of the strongest fields of the fall season, 8 of our top 20 teams in North Carolina as well as teams ranked 11th (Virginia Stars - Camp) and #80 (East Coast Snipers - Clark/Hill) in Perfect Games most recent national top 100 in this age group were all in action in this 22-team field. The East Coast Snipers - Clark/Hill (SC) earned the top seed for the play-in games with a 7-3 win over the Mid-Atlantic Red Sox (MD) and a 12-2 win over Virginia Stars - Camp. The Virginia Stars earned the 16th and final spot in the play-in games, and a rematch against the Snipers with a 10-6 win over the Mid-Atlantic Red Sox in their other pool play game. Next Level/JG scored the #2 seed with a 6-5 win over #9 GRIT - Culler and a 7-1 win over #16 LKN Hurricanes in their other pool play game. Canes Baseball NC - Naylor scored the #3 seed with a 5-2 win over Carolina Titans - Ambrose and a 7-6 win over the Virginia Venom. #4 SBA Futures earned the #4 seed after they defeated #2 Rawlings Prospects NC 4-3 on Friday and followed that up with an 8-7 win over 757 Canes - Chalk on Saturday. The Rawlings Prospects topped Canes - Chalk 12-2 in their other pool play game and earned the #7 seed for the play-in games. DPC Baseball Academy Gold earned the #5 seed for the play-in games with a 14-4 win over the Akadema Heat and an 8-7 win over #6 NCDB Rivercats in pool play. The Heat topped the LKN Hurricanes 5-1 to score the #15 seed and the Rivercats edged the FV Wildcats 5-4 to earn the #12 seed in the play-in games. #7 Dirtbags East earned the #10 seed for the play-in games with a 7-1 win over #12 NCDB Rivercats 12u2 and a 9-7 loss against GRIT - Culler in pool play. This left GRIT - Culler with the #14 seed for the play-in games.

Play-in game results

#1 East Coast Snipers - Clark/Hill 2, #16 Stars Baseball - Camp 10
#2 Next Level/JG 14, #15 Akadema Heat 2
#3 Canes NC - Naylor 4, #14 GRIT - Culler 13
#4 SBA Futures 21, #13 Rock Solid Red 0
#5 DPC Baseball Academy Gold 13, #12 NCDB Rivercats 5
#6 Battle Baseball 11, #11 Luckies Platinum 10
#7 Rawlings Prospects NC 7, #10 Dirtbags East 1
#8 Carolina Titans - Ambrose 11, #9 FV Wildcats 3

In the Gold bracket quarterfinals, Stars - Camp scored a 9-2 win over Titans - Ambrose, the SBA Future edged DPC Gold 9-8, GRIT - Culler rolled to a 13-5 win over Battle Baseball, and the Rawlings Prospects blasted their way to a 15-5 win over Next Level/JG. In the semifinals, the SBA Futures blanked Stars - Camp 4-0 and the Rawlings Prospects also scored a 4-0 win over GRIT - Culler. In the finals, the Rawlings Prospects got revenge on the SBA Futures for their pool play loss, scoring a 4-0 win to take home the WWS crown. In the Silver bracket, the NCDB Rivercats bounced back from their loss against DPC in the play-in game to go 3-0 on Sunday with a 9-6 win over Rock Solid Red, a 6-5 win over East Coast Snipers - Clark/Hill, and a 14-3 win over Luckies Platinum in the finals.

Predicted champion: Stars Baseball - Camp

Champion: Rawlings Prospects NC

 

Instant Analysis: The Rawlings Prospects impressed this weekend going 5-1 to move to 26-4 for the fall season. They notched wins over #4 SBA Futures, #7 Dirtbags East, and #9 GRIT - Culler this weekend and will be tough to keep out of the #1 spot in our final fall rankings. SBA continues to be one of the top teams in this age group and made an impressive runs themselves, culminating in a loss to Rawlings in the finals. The #6 NCDB Rivercats bounced back nicely from a disappointing showing in pool play/play-in game, winning 3 games on Sunday including over #20 Rock Solid Red and national #80 East Coast Snipers - Clark/Hill on their way to a Silver bracket title. Several unranked teams also made some nice runs, including DPC Academy Gold and Next Level/JG. DPC notched 2 wins over the NCDB Rivercats and fell just short against the SBA Futures in the Gold bracket. Next Level/JG topped GRIT - Culler and #16 LKN Hurricanes in pool play on their way to a 3-1 weekend.

 

In the D2 division, 11u #7 Rock Solid Red earned the top seed for the play-in games with a 7-0 win over the Neuse River Broncos and a 6-1 win over the Sandhills Heat in pool play. RISE (VA) scored the #2 seed with a 16-1 win over East Coast Snipers - McCarter (SC) and a 13-5 win over the Diamond Thieves. Area Stars White earned the #3 seed with a 5-4 win over Concord Athletics - Darin and an 8-3 win over Peninsula Co-Pilots (VA). The Wendell Knights received the #4 seed after notching an 8-1 win over Dirtbags East Gold and a 12-7 win over Fury Baseball. The East Carolina Bombers bounced back from a 6-4 loss to the Cleveland Wildcats on Friday night to score a 13-4 win over Concord Athletics - Darwin and earned the #12 seed for the play-in games.

Gold/Silver play-in game results

#1 Rock Solid Red 11u 9, #16 Bomb Squad 1
#2 RISE 12, #15 Penninsula Co-Pilots 2
#3 Area Stars White 9, #14 Sandhills Heat 5
#4 Wendell Knights 14, #13 American Dream 5
#5 Area Stars Orange 2, #12 East Carolina Bombers 10
#6 Mid Atlantic Pirates 6, #11 Neuse River Broncos 6
#7 Old Hickory 2, #10 NRV Tigers 10
#8 South Wake Storm 7, #9 Cleveland Wildcats 12

In the Gold bracket semifinals, Rock Solid Red fell 10-4 against the Cleveland Wildcats, the East Carolina Bombers rolled to a 10-5 win over the Wendell Knights, Area Stars White notched a 5-4 win over the Mid-Atlantic Pirates (VA), and RISE rolled to a 7-2 win over the NRV Tigers (VA). In the semifinals, the East Carolina Bombers blasted their way to a 13-2 win over the Cleveland Wildcats and RISE edged Area Stars White 8-7. In the finals, East Carolina Bombers finished off a 5-1 weekend with an 8-2 win over RISE.

Predicted champion: Wendell Knights

Champion: East Carolina Bombers

 

Instant Analysis: The Bombers have been one of the better teams in the D2 ranks for quite some time and they had an excellent run through the play-in and Gold bracket games to earn their title this weekend. The Wendell Knights also had a decent showing, but fell against the Bombers in the quarterfinals on Sunday. Area Stars Orange bounced back from their loss against the East Carolina Bombers in the play-in game to go 3-0 on Sunday and take home the Silver bracket title.