June 21, 2025
By Adam Burns
VALLEY, Neb. — 3-0 and good to go. BPA Black 13u was not messing around this week during the third session of the Omaha Slumpbuster tournament.
BPA Black had little trouble in pool play, tallying three straight wins including two run-rule efforts and a 3-2 nail-biter victory. The final win was against the previously 1-1 Minneapolis Millers — a 20-6 result in four innings — at the 1st Interstate Bank Sports Complex Friday morning.
Most of the damage was done early, as BPA Black scored 12 runs in the top of the first. They added five more in the second frame.
“That was everything,” BPA Black head coach John Gerges said of the early damage. “I think we batted through the order twice, so that was great. It sets the tone, the morale hopefully of where you’re going to go in a baseball game and I always tell them — if you get on top early, there’s a good chance you win that game, right? We preach — get on top early, score often and stay on top of the mountain.”
BPA Black was so productive at the plate that it had four players tally three hits apiece — Anthony Gerges, Zachary Sobrepena, Hunter Caldwell and Jaxson Adams. Jesse Allen added two hits and Jack McDaniel had a two-run double.
“It’s something we’ve been working on. We’ve been telling them to attack instead of protect,” coach Gerges said. “We plan to be aggressive with the bat and good things will happen when we hit the ball hard. I want them to have that mentality.”
“We’ve been hitting the ball pretty well and doing our jobs,” McDaniel said.
Anthony Gerges, also known as Ant Man, agreed with his teammate.
“We did a great job of situational hitting and playing as a team. We’ve really come together here in Omaha and played as a team. We did well in getting runners in once they were in scoring position.”
While BPA Black has had no problem rounding the bases, the Northern California-based squad surrendered eight total runs, putting them in a position to not be seeded as high as they preferred.
“There’s obviously things we can work on but I think we’re doing a good job at this point,” Jack McDaniel said. “But if we make routine plays, move our runners over and get them in, and do things right, we can beat anybody.”
The group believes that if they keep that mentality, they could be the last team standing at Slumpbuster.
“They’re going to have to have a strong mindset tomorrow because we all know that you can go 3-0 in pool, but it comes down to bracket play,” coach Gerges said. “It’s a brand-new tournament, so we’ll have to be prepared physically and mentally. And the last thing – just staying together as a team and doing the little things right and having fun.”
Winning would be great, of course, but also a handful of the group have tickets to the College World Series game on Sunday.
“They’re having a blast; it’s been a great experience,” Gerges said.
McDaniel attended the LSU-Arkansas contest on Wednesday, his first CWS game.
“I’m loving it,” he said. “It’s like baseball heaven out here. It can’t get much better than this.”
BPA Black ended up the No. 2 seed in the 13u Gold bracket; it will face Hangar Elite (Valparaiso, IN) to kick off bracket play Saturday.
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