In the first gold bracket game of the 2023 Net Elite Memorial Day Classic, the (3 seed) RBC Regulators Baseball Club Black 13U faced off against the (6 seed) Diamond Tri-Star Prospects 13U, ending with a ‘hit.’ The teams were tied in the bottom of the sixth until our very own Jack Lohri was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, forcing home the run that secured the win for the Regulators.
The game started at 9 AM on an unusually cold morning in Knoxville, TN.
Diamond Tri-Star Prospects 13U rallied in the fifth, but the home team held strong.
Starting on the mound for the Regulators was Tyler Wright. His contribution over three and one-third innings limited the opponents to one run on three hits. He struck out three in his outing.
Tyler Davis, a key player for the Regulators Black 13U, was two for two in the game.
Going into the final frame, our Regulators were down 2 to 4. Devin Chiu started the party by getting hit by the second pitch to lead off the inning. Grayson Broadway followed that with a walk before Cole Teal singled on bunt to juice the bases.
That brought up the piping-hot Davis, who singled up the middle to bring in a run making the score 4 to 3. Three pitches later, Broadway scored on a passed ball, moving Teal and Davis to third and second bases, respectively.
With Broadway’s run, the boys had fought back to tie the game at 4.
Tyler Wright then walked to load the bases again, bringing up Lohri.
Lohri swung through strike one, took strike two, then worked the count to two balls and two strikes. On the fifth pitch of the at-bat, Lohri was hit by the to bring home the walk-off run.
The team had a two-game (nearly 4 hours) break before playing the second-seeded East Tennessee Crusaders.
Game 2
In that second game of the 2023 Net Elite Memorial Day Classic, the RBC Regulators Baseball Club Black 13U seized the lead in the late innings again, cinching an 8-6 victory.
The game had a lot of action, with the Regulators amassing 12 hits and the Crusaders managing six.
Going into the top of the seventh inning, the game was knotted at 6. The inning started off with two hard-hit baseballs right at fielders resulting in two quick outs. However, Seth Massey drew a walk, bringing up Dylan Wignot.
Massey stole second base on a one-ball, two-strike count to Wignot. A wild pitch on the next pitch moved Massey to third. During the transition, the catcher threw the ball into left field, scoring Massey to allow the RBC to take the lead 7 to 6.
Wignot walked on the next pitch. The ball got away from the catcher, allowing Wignot to advance all the way to second before another pitch was thrown.
Hudson Reece then singled to right field to score Wignot, bringing the score to 8 to 6 before the top of the frame ended.
In the bottom of the frame, Broadway, who’d been dominant on the mound all day, mowed down the side with two strikeouts and a ground out to third basemen Wright to end the game.
The boys then had another game break to await the winner of the one versus five seed game.
2023 Net Elite Memorial Day Classic Championship Game
The top-seeded BC Athletics out of middle Tennessee emerged victorious, meaning the Regulators would again be the visiting team.
With the sun nearly set on a day that started a 9AM, we were just getting started.
The Regulators exploded to a 5-run lead over the first two innings, led by a lead-off double by Wignot and a walk by Reece. Chiu did a job in the next at-bat, moving the runners to second and third with a ground ball to the shortstop.
Broadway walked to load the bases. Teal then singled on an absolute seed to left field to bring in Wignot and Reece.
In the next frame, the onslaught continued with an error at shortstop, a catcher’s interference call, and another error by the pitcher to load the bases again.
Two consecutive singles by Wignot and Reece brought home three runs to bring the lead to 5 – 0.
Jacque Han lead the way on the mound for the Regulators. He held the top-seeded Crusaders to 2 runs through three complete innings before giving up two more in the fourth.
However, by the end of the fourth, the Crusaders had charged back to lead the game 8 to 5.
But, as they had shown all weekend, the Regulators were comfortable in the come-from-behind role.
With time expired, the fifth inning would be the final frame. The Regulators 13u Black needed 3 to tie.
Wignot started it off with a beautiful bunt single to the third basemen. Reece followed with a line drive up the middle to bring the tying run to the plate. Chiu, a metaphorical ball magnet, was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Broadway then hit into a fielder’s choice to close the gap to 6 to 8.
Teal then came to the plate, working the count full before being hit by the pitch to load the bases again.
The Crusaders then brought in a reliever to close it down. However, Tyler Davis had other plans. Davis scorched a bases-clearing double to the wall in right field to put the good guys ahead 9 to 8.
Wright followed with an RBI single to right field to give the Regulators some breathing room.
The score was 10 to 8 to reach the bottom of the fifth and final frame.
Wignot was on the mound for the Regulators. Things got off to a rocky start with a leadoff walk. However, Wignot struck out the next batter. With one out, a weak ground ball single to second followed. However, the runner from first pressed his luck, trying to advance to third. Broadway (first base) made a laser-accurate throw to third basemen Wright for the out.
With the home team deflated, Wignot sealed their fate with a strikeout looking to end the game.
The 2023 Net Elite Memorial Day Classic ended just after 10 PM, and with several players arriving before 8 AM and not leaving until celebratory pictures were snapped, it capped a nearly 13-hour championship day at the field.
On the day, Wignot lead the day at the plate with five hits (.625 average), with Davis, Broadway, Massey, Teal, and Reece collecting four each.
Davis had 5 RBIs, with Teal adding 4.
Wignot crossed the plate four times and stole four bases to lead the Regulators.
On the day, the Regulators only saw four strikeouts through the three games, amassing a mind-blowing 94.94% contact rate.
Broadway led the way on the mound, pitching 5.2 innings over two games, striking out seven and only allowing two earned runs. His WHIP was sub-1 at 0.706.
All in all, it was an amazing team effort with a great group of boys, coaches, and families.
The Regulators Baseball Club 13u Black, your 2023 Net Elite Memorial Day Classic champions!