The NorCal Titans 12U Blue baseball team made an impressive run in Arizona, amassing a 5-1 record and capturing second place at the Triple Crown Championships. The Titans opened with wins over the AABC Crusaders (10-2), the SoCal Storm (6-5) and the Arizona Grinders (10-6) to go 3-0 in pool play.

Milan Mijanovic was intimidating on the mound, throwing three innings of no-hit ball to set the tone against the Crusaders. Walker Brinkman and Conner Capps paced the offense with two hits apiece and combined for five RBIs.

In the Storm game, a 10-inning title fight, Trevor Wilson’s three hits – complementing three sterling innings on the mound – were a key in this big win. Jimmy Kabrich’s four innings of work on the mound and game-winning hit ended the first night of pool play for the Titans at 2-0.

Anthony Beckstead pitched four innings to get the win over the Arizona Grinders. Dior Walker and Keith Hale both were spectacular offensively and defensively to send the Titans to the No. 3 seed entering championship play.

Starting championship play, the Titans took on the Las Vegas Extreme. Philip Apodaca’s three hits, including two doubles and one triple, and Trevor Wilson’s three-inning, five-strikeout performance were enough to send the Titans to the semifinals against the SoCal SKLZ.

The combined pitching of Walker Brinkman, Milan Mijanovic and Jimmy Kabrich kept the SKLZ offense at bay in the 3-1 victory. Logan Huntze’s work behind the plate was outstanding as usual. Huntze, who caught five of the Titans’ six total games, made a huge defensive play in the semifinal game when he took a ball off the backstop and sprinted to the plate to tag out what would have been the SKLZ’s lead run.

Jordan Gartner sparked the offense for the Titans in the championship game with two hits and spectacular glove work at first base, but the Dirt Dawgs’ offense proved too much for the Titans, who surrendered six runs in the second inning and earned a second-place finish with a score of 10-6.

– Contributed by Scott Kabrich