CASTAIC, Calif. - The USA Baseball 12U Trials Red Team defeated the Blue Team, 10-3, to win in the final game of the three-game series at the 2017 12U National Team Trials Friday at VTV Baseball Complex.
The Red Team started the scoring in the second inning with an Ashton Larson (Overland Park, Kan.) single and an Isaac Quintanilla (Diamond Bar, Calif.) RBI-single, scoring Macon Winslow (Hertford, N.C.) who reached on an error to begin the inning. On the next play, Gregory Pierantoni (Valencia, Calif.) used an RBI-groundout to bring home Larson. After a wild pitch advanced Quintanilla to third, Alexander Clemmey (Middletown, R.I.) ripped an RBI-single up the middle to give Red the early 3-0 lead.
The Blue Team got its first run on the board after Keilon Parnell (Pascagoula, Miss.) began the frame with an infield single and Jose Mendoza (San Ysidro, Calif.) reached on a fielder's choice to score Parnell.
The lead was extended to 6-1 in the fourth when Red ripped off three straight RBI-singles from Errick Barnes Jr. (San Diego, Calif.), Benjamin Reiland (Irvine, Calif.), and CJ Rice (Pleasanton, Calif.), after Josh Atomancyzk (Franklin, Texas) got on base to leadoff the inning.
The Blue Team again responded with a run in the sixth, when Ty Wisdom (Kansas City, Mo.) blasted a two-out solo home run to left field trimming its deficit to 6-2.
In the bottom of the frame, the Red squad put the game out of reach with three straight singles from Antonio Anderson (Atlanta, Ga.), Bryce Rainer (Simi Valley, Calif.) and James Theodore (Carisbad, Calif.) to load the bases with no outs. Following a double play that scored a run, Nicholas Montgomery (Cypress, Calif.) doubled down the right field line to plate another run and Anderson followed with an RBI-single to right field to extend the lead to 10-2.
Conner Boyd (Parker, Colo.) scorched a solo home run center field for Blue in the seventh, but the effort was not enough to mount a comeback.
Pierantoni, who started on the mound for the Red squad, earned the win, only allowing one hit in two scoreless innings of work. In relief, Rice was key for the Red side, throwing two scoreless frames while striking out a game-high four.
Pavlos Piperakis (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) was tagged with the loss.
The Red Team finished with 17 hits in the game including multi-hit games from Larson (2-for-3), Quintanilla (2-for-3) and Anderson (2-for-2). Hank Benny (Austin, Texas) finished 2-for-3 in the contest for the Blue Team.
USA Baseball will announce the 12U National Team that will compete in the 2017 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) U-12 Baseball World Cup later tonight.
The 2017 12U National Team will participate in training from July 22-24 at VTV Baseball before traveling to Taiwan. Fans can follow the games live at USABaseball.com or follow on Twitter.