API Baseball’s 11U Blue Makes Ripken Final In Myrtle

Gambrills, MD –API Baseball Academy’s 11U Blue team traveled to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for the Ripken Beach Blast Tournament in late June. Sixteen teams from around the country competed, including teams from Maryland, Florida, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana. The competition pool was fierce.

As the games began, the squad of 12 was ready and motivated for a challenge. In pool play, 11U Blue went 3-2 and placed sixth in the bracket. API scored 49 runs in the 5 pool-play games. Notable performances include Alex Tewell’s double in the 17-1 win against the South Florida Regulators, Nate Sanders’ double against the Oswego Panthers, Evan Boucher’s double against Storm Baseball, and Jake Burns’ strong defense at shortstop. The top 10 teams of the tournament earned a spot in the championship bracket. API 11U Blue solidified their spot as the sixth seed.

The quality pitching performances by Tewell, Dylan Grice, Gavin Jacker, Jacob Broadwater and Dominic Erculiani going deep into ballgames allowed the team to maintain its best defensive alignments all week. 

In the first round of single-elimination bracket play, API 11U Blue beat Storm Baseball from Alabama 18-7. Bats were blistering in this game as API 11U Blue collected 19 hits while holding Storm to seven hits. Jacker had three doubles and a single, while Boucher, Broadwater, Michael Queen, Sanders, Grice and Aidan McIntyre each had multiple hits. Erculiani struck out five batters in his four innings on the mound.

API 11U played their best baseball on Championship Friday, starting with a very close game in the semifinal. The defense held the Z’s Diamond Club Jags to five runs behind strong pitching from Tewell and Grice. API 11U Blue’s offense had nine hits, including multiple-hit games from McIntyre and Broadwater. The team did not commit a single error in the game. In the sixth inning, with API clinging to 5-4 lead, Broadwater hit a two-run home run to deep center field. With two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Jags hit a pitch from Grice to left field where Queen was waiting and ready to make the catch. It was an impressive win against a competitive team.

API 11U Blue faced Louisiana Empire 11U in the championship game, coming just short of winning the title with a loss of 4-2. API did not fail to bring the heat: the team had two double plays, and Cato June Jr. added an impressive diving catch in right field. 

The team placed seond out of 16 teams in the Ripken Beach Blast Tournament, combining its talents for a true team-effort performance all tournament long. Shortstop Billy White sustained a broken hand two days before the team departed for Myrtle Beach, but was in the dugout supporting his team all week. The team hit well, pitched with finesse, and fielded with skill.

About API Baseball Academy:

API Baseball Academy is a unique club sports program with Total Player Development as the foundation of the program. Total Player Development represents everything that today’s student-athlete needs to succeed on the field including position-specific instruction, sports performance training, injury prevention programs, mental/emotional training, experienced coaching, and high-level competition. On top of all of this, API Baseball Academy teams and athletes practice, train, and compete in our state-of-the-art facilities throughout the year.