Win: Blank Loss: French Save: None

Cary, N.C. – Texas Twelve’s offense showcased their composure at the plate and shut out Indiana Bulls National, 5-0, to claim gold at the 17U National Team Championships NC at the National Training Complex.

Texas Twelve took advantage of wild pitching by Indiana Bulls National to jump out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning. Three walks loaded the bases for Landon West, and he was hit by starter Carson French to provide the first run of the game. Blake Brown and Jaquae Stewart then scored on back-to-back wild pitches to extend the lead to 3-0.

Jack Bell worked a walk in the second inning and traveled around the bases on three straight wild pitches, making it 4-0.

Jackson Blank did exactly what his last name states – he blanked Indiana Bulls National for 5.1 innings as he fanned nine batters and yielded just three walks and three hits.

The only sign of trouble Blank faced was in the sixth inning after he walked Max Clark and Carter Murphy in consecutive at bats. Head coach Zach Dillon turned to Jackson Wilkerson in relief, who proceeded to fan two to end the inning and halt the threat.

Brown entered to pinch hit and added an insurance run in the sixth inning, driving an RBI single to center field to allow Stewart to slide under the throw from Clark and score.

Despite a single by Alex Naylor leading off the seventh inning, Wilkerson refused a potential seventh inning rally. He induced three straight outs with a strikeout to end it, securing the gold medal to complete Texas Twelve’s undefeated 6-0 tournament run.

Notable Information

• Despite being outhit 4-3, Texas Twelve fueled its offense by working eight walks.
• Blank and Wilkerson combined for 12 strikeouts in the win.
• Blake Mitchell led Texas Twelve with two extra-base hits, a 1.248 OPS, and four runs batted in for the tournament.
• Texas Twelve’s pitching staff allowed just eight earned runs across 40.1 innings for a combined 1.39 earned-run average.

Quotes

• Kendall George - Texas Twelve
• On how it feels to win the gold medal…
• “It feels great. We came out here last year with the same goal and fell a little short. It was really personal this year to come out here and win.”