CARY, N.C. - Team Light Blue secured its spot in the 2021 PDP League championship game with a 5-2 victory over Team Red on Friday at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina. The Light Blue squad piled on four runs in the top of the first and never looked back to secure its third victory of the event.

A couple Team Red errors as well as a clutch RBI single from Ryan Clifford (1-for-3) highlighted Team Light Blue’s four-run first and the squad added one more insurance run in the fifth, courtesy of a Cannon Peebles (1-for-2) RBI single. Team Red got runs back in the second and fifth innings to cut the deficit to three but couldn’t complete the comeback, suffering its fourth loss of the event, 5-2.

Clifford, Lukas Schramm (1-for-2), Jacob Reimer (1-for-2), and Peebles all collected hits for Team Light Blue in the win. Clifford, Reimer, and Peebles were also responsible for the team’s three RBIs with each collecting one.

Team Red’s Gavin Kilen (2-for-3) led both teams in hits, tallying the contest’s only multi-hit performance while also scoring one of Team Red’s runs. Jason Torres (1-for-3) and Tucker Toman (1-for-2) also had hits in the loss, while Toman earned the team’s lone RBI.

Xavier Cardenas III (2-0) got the win for Team Light Blue after tossing 1.1 hitless, scoreless innings in relief. David Horn (0-1) got the start for Team Red and allowed four runs on three hits in his 1.2 innings of work, suffering the loss in the contest.

Key Moments

• Team Light Blue used a couple Team Red miscues to get on the board early. Leadoff hitter Gavin Guidry reached and came around to score on a throwing error to kick things off in the top of the first.
• One batter later, Cole Young was hit by a pitch and stole second to get in scoring position for Ryan Clifford who looped an RBI-single up the middle to plate Young and give Team Light Blue a 2-0 advantage.
• The Light Blue squad add two more runs in the first with some clutch two-out hitting as Lukas Schramm cranked a double to right before scoring on a Jacob Reimer RBI-triple. Reimer then came home to give Team Light Blue a 4-0 lead.
• Back-to-back walks to Elijah Green and Nolan Schubart, followed by a Tommy Specht single loaded the bases with one out for Team Red in the bottom half of the first, but Team Light Blue starter Christian Arroyo got a double play to escape the jam and keep Team Red scoreless.
• Jason Torres hit a double and then came around to score Team Red’s first run of the game courtesy of two wild pitches in the bottom of the second inning.
• Both offenses then went quietly until the fifth when Team Light Blue added another run on a Cannon Peebles RBI-single that plated Reimer for the 5-1 lead.
• Team Red got one back in the bottom half to the lead to 5-2 with a Tucker Toman RBI double that brought in Gavin Kilen, who had singled one batter earlier.
• Team Red tried to rally in the bottom of the seventh when it put two runners on with no outs but Team Light Blue was able to escape the jam with a fielder’s choice, pop up, and strikeout to secure the 5-2 victory.

Notable Information

• With the victory, Team Light Blue improves to 3-2 in the 2021 PDP League and advances to Saturday’s championship game.
• Team Red drops to 1-4 in the event and will play for third place against the winner of Friday’s matchup between Team Navy and Team Gray on Saturday afternoon.

On Deck

• Saturday, July 31: Team Red vs. TBD (1:00 p.m. ET; Cary, N.C.; National Training Complex)
• Saturday, July 31: Team Light Blue vs. TBD (5:00 p.m. ET; Cary, N.C.; National Training Complex)

Social

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