2015 AAU International Qualifier
Posted by Evan Burnett on June 16, 2015 at 10:39 PM
Over the June 13th & 14th weekend, the Team Mizuno Northeast (TMNE) 13U team traveled down to Hartford, Connecticut to participate in the 2015 AAU International Qualifier. The team went 4-0 overall in the tournament en-route to capturing the Northeast Region Berth to the 2015 AAU International World Championships to be held in Fort Lauderdale, Flordia this September.
John West and Nick Gleason kicked off the tournament by throwing back-to-back no-hitters during pool play. Other standouts for Team Mizuno Northeast were Javier Irizarry and Jordan Kjoniksen who combined for 5 triples and 4 doubles over the course of the weekend.
After pool play, seven teams competed in the quarter final playoffs. Team Mizuno Northeast earned the quarter-finals bye and defeated the Shoreline Hammerheads in the semi-finals 12-7. TMNE matched up with Team Connecticut Baseball (TCB) in the finals – winning the contest 7-2.
In the finals, Andrew Eppinger took the mound for TMNE, opposite Justin Barron for TCB. The game was kicked off by a lead-off home run by Dan Rivera for TCB. After giving up the lead-off home run to Rivera, Eppinger settled in nicely and threw a complete game for the win. Eppinger was effective, mixing up speeds for the whole game. TCB starter Justin Barron proved difficult for TMNE batters for much of the game. The young TCB starter was effective keeping hitters off-balance and out of the run column for the better part of four innings. However, the TMND offense struck in the bottom half of the fourth for 5 runs and followed up with a run in the fifth and sixth innings to cap the 7-2 victory.
TMNE players and coaching staff are excited at the opportunity to participate in the 2015 AAU International World Championships over the September 4-7 weekend in Fort Lauderdale, FL.