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NEB National wins Perfect Game MLK West Upperclass Championships

By NEB, 01/22/19, 8:00AM EST

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Article below is taken from Perfect Game USA website perfectgame.org

GLENDALE, Ariz. – North East Baseball National went into Monday’s championship game at the PG Upperclass West MLK Championship as the No. 1 seed after outscoring its three pool-play opponents by a combined 15-1.

It beat No. 8 GBG NW Marucci, 9-1, in a Monday morning quarterfinal contest and then stopped the No. 5 Minnesota Blizzard Elite Black, 3-1, in the semis. As the Nationals made their way to the Dodgers side of the Camelback Ranch spring training complex for the championship game, they undoubtedly had to feel pretty good about their station in life.

But there opponent in the finale was the talent-rich Sticks Baseball Academy, which was seeded No. 6 despite being regarded as one of the top outfits in the 34-team Upperclass field. The feeling around the complex was that this would be a dogfight, and no one was disappointed.

Both teams scored twice in their halves of the second inning, and it remained 2-2 heading into the bottom of the sixth. It was time for North East to take control.

Kyle Casper came through with a one-out, bases loaded single that pushed all three runners across the plate and North East Baseball National escaped Sticks Baseball Academy, 5-2, to claim the program’s second Upperclass West MLK Championship title in the last three years.

North East Baseball, a national program based in Hudson, Mass., finished 6-0-0 after winning three games on Monday. Sticks BA, an increasingly national program based in Little Rock, Ark., went home 5-1-0.

The North East Nationals scored their five runs on five hits, with Troy Schreffler coming through with a double and a single and Patrick Roche contributing with a double; Casper finished with four RBI.

North East 2021 right-hander Jack Cebert, 2019 lefty Jay Luikart and 2019 right-hander Caleb Thomason combined on a four-hitter and neither run allowed was earned; they struck-out nine and walked three.

The Sticks used five pitchers who combined to surrender four earned runs on five hits while walking 11. No matter how its sliced, diced or broken down, 11 free passes are difficult to overcome. All four of their hits were singles and Blayne Robinson had one of them and drove in a run.

The National’s Michael Campagna, a 2019 top-500 catcher/third baseman and UC Irvine signee from La Jolla, Calif., was named the MV Player after going 6-for-13 (.462) with a double, triple, home run and nine RBI. 2019 right-hander Jackson Haga, a Liberty signee from Bowling Green, Ky., was named the MV Pitcher after throwing five, two-hit shutout innings with 12 strikeouts.