GBC Prepstars advance to World Wood Bat Championship Round

GBC beat Team Elite this morning 2-1 to win their pool and advance to the
Championship round of 32 that will begin Sunday morning. Advancing to the top 32 in
the field of 192 of the best teams in the nation was our initial goal, but now that
we have advanced and have our best pitcher ready to start the single elimination
round on Sunday, we are not ready to come home yet.

This morning GBC faced Team Elite who have over 10 players going to play at Ga Tech,
Georgia, and Florida. Zac Joyce (2011 E. Forsyth) was on the mound and the college
coaches took note – over 15 in attendance. The starting pitcher for Team Elite is
headed to Ga Tech in the fall and was consistently at 91-93 with very good off
speed.

In the top of the 1st, Team Elite was able to take a 1-0 lead on a misplayed fly
ball, but GBC answered in the bottom of the 1st when Casey Jones (Elon Commit) lead
off with a double to rc, Cal Sutphin (LIberty) moved him to third and he scored to
tie it at one on Brock Hudgens’ (UNCC Commit) two out single up the middle.

The game had numerous ESPN highlights as both pitchers dominated the game. In the
bottom of the 5th, GBC got a single by Joe Turkson (Campbell commit) and a walk to
Jonathan Bethea (HPCA), and with two outs Cal Sutphin laced a line drive to right
center that the centerfielder caught with a full out dive.

In the top of the 6th Team Elite had a runner on 2nd with two outs and Ga Tech
commit Paul Kroenigfield (Greensboro Native) up at the plate, he hit a soft line
drive over the head of Shortstop Cal Sutphin that appeared to put Team Elite ahead
but Sutphin matched the full out dive to save a run and come up with the catch.

In the bottom of the 6th Sawyer Highfill (Grimsley) lead off with a double down the
LF line, Brock Hudgens got into an 0-2 hole but fought off the 2 strike pitch to get
his second rbi of the day and put GBC up 2-1 heading to the 7th.

Zac Joyce gave up a one out single in the 7th but got the last two outs to send GBC
in the Championship round.

GBC will face the East Cobb Yankees who are also loaded with players heading to Ga Tech, Georgia, Florida and LSU, this tourney is the greatest and we hope to move on Sunday morning.

7 thoughts on “GBC Prepstars advance to World Wood Bat Championship Round

  1. glad to see Sutphin and Hudgens doing well. Too bad they had to cut and run from the High Point Legion team. Play all regular season then just leave before the playoffs start. This is a High Point Legion team good enough to challenge for a state championship – but it’ll be tough without Hudgens. David Coffey and Conner Scarborough are two really good pitchers but I don’t know if those two arms are enough to get them there.

  2. That is a shame, but loyalty to your teammates is not high on the list of most players these days, no matter what level they are on. Hopefully they let their coach know before last week that they would be going. This is independence day, where young athletes threw off the shackles of their old team, right?

  3. THIS HIGH POINT LEGION TEAM HAS A HISTORY OF NOT BEING LOYAL TO ITS PLAYERS. TO THEM IT IS JUST A BUSINESS. THEREFORE THE PLAYERS HAVE THE RIGHT TO TREAT IT THE SAME AND DO WHAT IS BEST FOR THEM.

  4. thats BS. Why even bother playing if they don’t like the management? It’s their team mates they let down not the “management”.

  5. We hear so much from parents and coaches, maybe some of the kids will come on here and give us their opinion….

    Many make the trek to East Cobb to be seen by the colleges coaches and the pro scouts…

    Many of the kids that went have already made their college choices and that would not be an option for them…

    Many kids like being with a team that is going for a major championship and maybe this is the one that got their attention….

    This is a six week event and Josh Tobias will be there later on this month and this event helped him get seen by Florida last summer when he was there with the Virgina Hurricanes and they won a title…

    I do believe this is the event where Desean Anderson got noticed by many of the pro scouts last summer and it helped get him in the mix for this year’s draft.

    East Cobb is a true destination, but won’t know for sure the true draw of the event, until we hear from some of the players….

    BTW, on Tobais, some charts now have him listed has the #1 high school player in North Carolina after his outing at Perfect Game in St. Petersburg, Florida….

    Just a few thoughts and I’m sure that there are plenty more out there…

  6. Andy, you are right on with your comments about East Cobb. It is the #1 way to get scouted and that can not be debated. Your readers clearly have two schools of thought on what is best for kids. I wish they would both quit debating and trying to inflict their thoughts on each other.

    On one hand, you have the players/parents that just think athletics are for fun and to build social relationships that will last a lifetime. These parents want their kids to get equal playing time and can’t understand why kids switch schools or why they would rather play for AAU/Showcase teams and they also want their coaches to be their friends versus holding them accountable for skill improvement. This certainly works for the majority of players/parents and they may even get seen by a few college coaches along the way.

    On the other hand, you have the group of players that want to compete for championships and to develop skills to prepare them for college/professional athletics. These players want to practice/play at the highest level and their parents are okay to “invest financially” to get their kids the best development possible and the opportunity to be “seen”. To get this level of coaching and exposure they must go outside of the traditional high school teams and find advanced level coaches and teams to participate on. This is required for kids to get the highest degree of coaching and to be seen by college coaches. The fact is that college coaches will tell you straight out that involvement in these programs is where they find the majority of their recruits.

    So you have to make a decision on what is best for each child. I will use baseball as an example with the choices of teams available:

    Showcase(Best coaching/Visibility with college coaches/high cost/players play for visibility)
    High School/Colt/Palomino Teams/Legion(Coaching skill varies from good to poor/college visibility varies with the coach/minimal cost/some players play for visibility and some for fun but all teams contain a mix)
    Travel Teams(Coaching skill varies/no college visibility/moderate cost/players play for skill development)

    So there you have it. The facts are what they are. Each parent/player needs to figure out what is best for their individual situation and quite griping because others don’t follow their point of view. Let the ones that want to play for fun do that and let the ones that want to follow their dream so that as well.

  7. If Tobias is, in fact, ranked the # 1 baseball player in nc, that reinforces what I said last week about the all-state team that was posted here. Totally ridiculous!!! the number 1 rated baseball player ( I know it’s only one source but who cares if he’s even #4) should be on anyone’s all-state team if they have any idea what the dickens they re doing!!!!

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