SARASOTA, Fla. - The Stripes jumped out to an early lead and held off a Stars rally to secure a 3-2 victory in game two of the 2021 18U National Team Trials on Sunday at the Buck O’Neill Complex in Sarasota, Florida. The win ties the 18U Trials series at one game apiece with two games left to play.

A leadoff double from Druw Jones (Suwanee, Ga.) and a Stars miscue gave the Stripes a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first and the team never looked back, adding one more run in that frame and a third in the third inning for a 3-0 advantage. The Stars got within one after putting two on the board in the sixth but the Stripes were able to hold on for their 3-2 win.

Adonys Guzman (Valley Cottage, N.Y.) and Jayden Hylton (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) led the Stripes offense with two hits apiece, while Gavin Kilen (Milton, Wis.) went 1-for-3 on the day with two runs scored. The Stars offense was spread out with five different batters collecting the team’s five hits in the contest. Termarr Johnson (Atlanta, Ga.) and Jayson Jones (Savannah, Texas) scored the Stars’ two runs on Sunday.

Brennan Phillips (Owasso, Okla.) got the win for the Stripes after allowing just two hits and one earned run in his three innings of work. Walter Ford (McCalla, Ala.) earned the save with three scoreless innings in which he allowed just one hit, while the Stars’ Jackson Cox (Toutle, Ore.) suffered the loss when he gave up three runs in three frames on the mound.

Key Moments

• Jones got the Stripes offense started early with a leadoff double before coming around to score on a Stars error for a 1-0 Stripes advantage in the bottom of the first.
• After reaching first and advancing to second on the Stars error, Kilen moved to third on a balk and scored the second run of the game on a wild pitch to give the Stripes a 2-0 lead.
• In the bottom of the third, Kilen dropped a leadoff single into right field and then stole second to put a runner in scoring position for Sal Stewart (Miami, Fla.), who made it a 3-0 Stripes lead with an RBI single to the right-center gap.
• A one-out single off the bat of Johnson followed by a walk to Jones got a rally started for the Stars in the sixth. Both runners advanced on a Stripes miscue before Johnson came home on a wild pitch to make it 3-1 and Jones added another run one batter later to cut the deficit to one.
• The Stars tried to put together another rally in the seventh with a one-out Cam Collier (Austell, Fa.) single but the Stripes’ Ford shut down the threat and went on to toss three scoreless innings and secure the 3-2 victory for his team.

Notable Information

• The 2021 18U Trials series is now tied at one game apiece after the Stars took game one 4-0.
• Three players on each team have recorded multiple hits so far in trials with Guzman, Hylton, and Jones leading the Stripes and Walker Jenkins (Oak Island, N.C.), Johnson, and Chris Stanfield (Tallahassee, Fla.) pacing the Stars through two games.
• Hylton also recorded the first triple of the series on Sunday.

On Deck

• August 30: Stars vs. Stripes (12:00 p.m. EDT; Sarasota, Fla.; Buck O'Neill Complex)
• August 31: Stars vs. Stripes (12:00 p.m. EDT; Sarasota, Fla.; Buck O'Neill Complex)

Social

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