By Allan Simpson
October 28, 2002

JUPITER, Fla.--As the two pre-tournament favorites at the Perfect Game/Baseball America World Wood Bat Association championship here this weekend, Baseball America and Team Florida USA were expected to battle on the final day with the title on the line.

Instead, the two teams squared off Sunday in the Round of 16 in one of the most hotly-contested games of the four-day tournament, with Baseball America hanging on for a 6-4 win.

The unexpected matchup occurred because Baseball America, represented by some the best individual talent in the country, struggled to score runs in pool play and was seeded 19th in bracket play. Team Florida dominated, as expected, earning a No. 3 seed. Their paths then crossed in the second round.

Having surrendered just five runs between them in their previous eight games, the matchup was expected to be a pitcher's duel but it was anything but as Baseball America, which had scored only nine runs in four games, scored in each of the first four innings and outlasted their hard-hitting opponents.

Team Florida, which had outscored its competition 35-2 entering the game, tried to stymie the predominantly lefthanded-hitting BA lineup by starting 5-foot-10 Giovanny Gonzalez (Hialeah, Fla., High), the third soft-tossing lefthander in a row to start against BA. But the strategy backfired as Gonzalez didn't survive the second inning. BA continued to pile it on when righthander Chad Billingsley (Defiance, Ohio, High), one of the nation's top pitchers, came on in relief.

"We were much more aggressive at the plate in this game than we had been, and it made a big difference," said BA coach Johnny Rodriguez, who also manages in the Florida Marlins system. "I threw out my arm the last two days throwing batting practice to these guys to try and get their rhythm back, but mostly I just tried to get them to be more aggressive at the plate."

First baseman Brennan Boesch (Harvard-Westlake High, Los Angeles) broke out of a tournament-long slump by driving in a first-inning run on a triple that he unsuccessfully tried to leg out into an inside-the-park homer, and a long third-inning blast--one of only a handful of home runs in the tournament.

BA used four pitchers to hold off Team Florida, after running out righthanders Jared Hughes (Santa Margarita High, Laguna Niguel, Calif.) and Jeff Allison (Veterans Memorial High, Peabody, Mass.), the top two pitchers in the High School Class of 2003, to subdue the pesky Austin (Texas) Baseball Club, the No. 14 seed, in an opening-round game. The 6-foot-6 Hughes worked the first four innings, allowing only one hit and striking out four. He was clocked up to 96 mph.

Allison worked the final inning against Austin, and also came on to close against Team Florida, striking out the final batter. He was clocked in the low 90s in both appearances.

The feisty Allison had a little extra incentive in the second game as he pitched for Team Florida in the 2001 PG/BA tournament, helping that club to a second-place finish. He was determined to knock out his old team.

"He wanted the ball in that situation, and I gave it to him," Rodriguez said. "He was pretty charged up.

"The talent on this team is starting to show. The players are starting to feel it. I think we'll do well tomorrow."

The tournament, which began Friday with 72 teams, was reduced to eight after Sunday's play, with three wins on Monday necessary to win the title.

BA faces the All-Star (Pa.) Baseball Academy, also one of the pre-tournament favorites. In fact, the top four teams in pre-tournament projections--Baseball America, Team Florida, the Ohio Warhawks and the All-Star Academy--all ended up in the same portion of the bracket.

The No. 22-seed All-Star Academy drew the No. 11-seed Warhawks in its opener, and won 6-3. It then beat No. 6-seed Perfect Game Royal 3-1 to advance to a quarter-final game against Baseball America.

"Our attitude is just go out and play," said academy owner and team coach Mike Manning. "We can't worry about the way the bracket was set-up."

The All-Star Academy, which is based in Broomhall, Pa., has a star-studded roster that features senior outfielder Chris Lubanski (Kennedy-Kenrick Catholic High, Schwenksville, Pa.), one of the top 10 prospects for the 2003 draft; senior righthander Jay Sborz (Langley High, Great Falls, Va.), a possible first-rounder; and junior righthander Nick Adenhart (Williamsport High, Hagerstown, Md.), who may have ascended to the No. 1 player in the High School Class of 2004 with his performance on Saturday, when he threw a one-hitter and was clocked in the mid-90s.

Shortstop Justin Upton (Hickory High, Chesapeake, Va.), the top-rated player in the Class of 2005, also was supposed to play for the All-Star Academy, but he separated his shoulder, cracked his collarbone and broke three ribs in football practice last week. He is the younger brother of B.J. Upton, the second overall pick in this year's draft.

The other two teams on the Baseball America/All-Star Academy side of the bracket are two unheralded teams: the No. 31-seed Team Puerto Rico, which won three times Sunday, including a play-in game; and the No. 23 seed California Blaze.

Puerto Rico, which has a vocal following, scored the biggest upset in bracket play as it beat the No. 2 seed Houston Heat, 6-0 in the Round of 16, before rallying from a 5-1 deficit in an 8-5 win over the No. 15 seed Ontario Blue Jays.

The opposite side of the bracket features two Florida teams and two California teams.

The No. 1-seed Gold Coast Yellow Jackets, an all-star squad pooled from 10 high schools in the rich prep baseball ranks in and around Jupiter and West Palm Beach, continued to win after going 3-0 in pool play. The Jackets beat the No. 32 seed Bama Bombers 4-3 and No. 16 seed Coral Springs (Fla.) Bearcats 8-3 to move into the quarter-finals, where they draw the unbeaten and No. 9 seed Riverside, Calif., ABD Bulldogs.

ABD got strong starting performances out of starters Michael Rogers in a 6-1 win over No. 24 Powerhouse (Fla.), and by Zech Zinicola in a 2-0 win over the No. 25 Southwest Florida Scout Team. Rogers (Del City, Okla., High), a lefthander who has played prominent roles on U.S. national junior teams in the past, struck out five in three innings while flashing a 90-mph fastballs and one of the best curveballs in the tournament; Zinicola (Cajon High, San Bernardino, Calif.), a righthander, also touched 90 in a two-hit, five-inning stint.

"I like our chances," said Mike Spiers, who doubles as coach of the Ecuador national team and a revamped high school program at Arrowhead Christian High in Redlands, Calif. "We have six fresh arms for Monday, so our pitching is in pretty good shape."

The other two teams to advance to the quarter-finals are the No. 12-seed South Bay (Calif.) Sharks and No. 20 Florida Crush.

The Sharks upended No. 5 seed Houston Kyle Chapman, 2-1, to advance to Monday's play. Earlier Kyle Chapman had blanked the defending champion Miami Sluggers 5-0 as lefthander Cory Van Allen (Clements High, Sugar Land, Texas) threw a three-hitter with 11 strikeouts through the six innings.