Top Tier Las Vegas’ 16U Americans spent the week in Surprise, Arizona, at the Perfect Game WWBA West National Championship, an event that featured 36 of the top teams from the region competing for five days on the backfields of the Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers spring training complexes.
On Tuesday morning, as we prepared to take on the Dallas Tigers’ 2028 national team, I told our guys that you can go from competing to survival mode in the blink of an eye in events like this one. They learned that quickly. A five-run fifth inning for the Tigers proved to be the difference in a 9-3 final. Ty Kincaid (’28), who heads to LakePoint for the Future Games next Thursday, worked through early control issues and sweltering desert heat and humidity to strike out eight hitters over four innings, allowing just one earned run.
A Tough Start for Top Tier Las Vegas’ 16U Americans
Wednesday brought another gut-check for a Top Tier group largely made up of rising sophomores. An eight-run sixth inning, fueled by a series of mental mistakes uncharacteristic of this group, spoiled a strong outing from starter Miles Allen (’29), who allowed two earned runs over five and two-thirds innings.
Allen mixed his arsenal all afternoon, consistently staying a step ahead of opposing hitters, aided by an excellent game called by catcher Dylan Foote (’28). Allen now owns a 3.57 ERA in 33.1 innings this summer.
The bright spot—beyond Allen—in the loss to West Coast Red Sox was Maddox Sedlacek (’27), who hit his 13th home run of the summer, a blast that traveled well over 450 feet into the parking lot beyond the Rangers’ backfields. Through that game, Sedlacek was averaging a home run every 4.46 plate appearances. He’s now slashing .518/.531/.909/1.524 with 13 home runs, four doubles, a triple, and 34 RBI on the summer.
Backs Against the Wall, Top Tier Pitching Answers
After starting 0-2, Thursday’s doubleheader against NorCal U 2028 and PFA Arizona put Top Tier’s shot at bracket play on the line.
Joseph Luna (’28) delivered five innings of shutdown baseball to open the day, and the offense finally found its rhythm, scoring 12 runs. Jayden Brancaccio (’28, FL), Anthony Montanez (’28), and Chase Hutton (’28) all had multi-hit games, and Sedlacek drove in three runs to seal the win.
Luna’s summer body of work is hard to ignore: a 3.13 ERA with 39 strikeouts against just eight walks in 35.2 innings.
Rain pushed the second game of the doubleheader, against PFA, to Friday morning, where Top Tier’s Zachary Andres (’28) squared off with PFA’s Jacito Espinoza III in a pitchers’ duel. Espinoza came out on top, tossing seven shutout innings on three hits, but Andres matched him pitch for pitch, allowing two runs on four hits across six innings on just 52 pitches, 42 of them strikes. Andres now carries a 3.19 ERA with a 70 percent strike rate and a 71.1 percent success rate retiring hitters after getting ahead 0-1.
Two first-inning runs and a stagnant offense ended Top Tier’s hopes of reaching bracket play.
Top Tier Closes It Out in the Consolation Bracket
Saturday’s consolation game was one the group needed, both for the win and as another building block. In his final outing before the Future Games, Ty Kincaid worked a planned 30 pitches against CBA Victus California and made the most of it, striking out five in 1.2 innings.
Kincaid heads to LakePoint carrying 48 strikeouts and a 1.16 ERA in 30 innings this summer. Opponents are hitting just .161 against him.
Blake Bedard (’29) and Sedlacek closed out a 6-5 victory that featured multi-hit games from Antonio Whitney (’27), Bedard, Andres, and CJ Nelson (’28).
The Story of the Week: A Top Tier Rotation That’s Taken the Next Step
As has been the case all summer, pitching was the story for Top Tier’s 16U Americans. The starting rotation of Kincaid, Allen, Luna, and Andres carry a combined 2.65 ERA across 105.1 innings this season.
Missed offensive opportunities and defensive miscues cost the group in Arizona, but experiences like this one are how foundational winning habits get built, on and off the field. The eye-opening moments on the biggest stages usually are.
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