RENO >> The Middletown Titans are running out of fingers to display their championship rings after winning back-to-back youth baseball World Series titles in Arizona and Nevada.
The under-17 team managed by Middletown’s Troy Harbison recently capped a great run that began in late June and ended just last week. During that span the Titans won the Baseball Showcase World Series in Mesa, Arizona, then they came right back to win the All-World Sports World Series last week in Reno.
“When everything is clicking, it’s just hard to stop up us,” Harbison said of his 13-player-strong squad, which is made up of eight players from the Middletown area, two more from St. Helena, two from American Canyon and another from the Antioch area.
The Titans were remarkably consistent in both tournaments, dropping the first game of both before running the table. They went 6-1 in Arizona and 7-1 in Nevada.
Arizona’s tournament, which was played with only wood bats, also doubled as a scouting combine where several of the Titans were able to show off their talents to the many scouts in attendance. One of the events was a 60-yard dash during which Drake Harbison and Jimmy Larson both clocked in at 6.8 seconds.
“They were the fastest at the combine,” Troy Harbison said. “Pro players run between 6.7 and 7 seconds. That’s flying.”
Another Titans player, Jack Bliss, was ranked No. 1 in outfield throwing velocity at 90 mph, while yet another, Telly Hill, was ranked No. 1 in exit velocity, the ball coming off his bat at an average of 97 mph.
Harbison said the Titans players fully appreciated using only wood bats in Arizona.
“There’s nothing like the sound of a ball coming off a wood bat,” Harbison said. “They really enjoyed hitting with the wood bats.”
During their most recent tournament in Reno, the Titans brought out the power bats and overwhelmed the opposition with 17 home runs in eight games. Bliss blasted a team-leading six homers, Will Aden added four more, Hill had three and Harbison and Larson two apiece. On two different occasions the Titans hit back-to-back-to-back home runs in games, the same three players — Hill, Aden and Bliss — going deep both times.
Harbison and Larson, the first two batters in Middletown’s lineup, led the team with batting averages of .605 and .526.
While the Titans’ offense certainly held up its end during both tournaments, Harbsion said the team received stellar pitching in Arizona and Nevada, but especially in Arizona where Keegan Cutting, Andy Pitt and Stacey Nelson threw gems in each of Middletown’s final three games.
“Keegan threw a two-hitter, Pitt had a four-hit shutout, and Nelson pitched a two-hitter and gave up one run in our final game,” Harbison said. “Those kids’ pitching was absolutely stellar.”
