OF Jean-Christophe Masson (Levis, Que.) hit .692 average (9-for-13) with two doubles, a homer and five RBIs.

By Bob Elliott
Canadian Baseball Network

What do the Montreal-based Academy Baseball Canada have in common with the AZ T-Rex Baseball of Phoenix?

The ABC knocked off DBAT-Wilson 10-2 to win the Perfect Game 16U Elite Championship at Lupton Stadium on TCU campus in Fort Worth, Tex.

For the ABC it was its third win south of the border this summer. It’s the first time a teaam has matched that trifecta since T-Rex won three times in 2016 at one age level, according to Perfect Game.

Four runs in the second and three more in the third, put ABC up 8-1 on the way to its third title. The four spot was a result of three error, three walks, and three stolen bases, including C Raphael Pelletier (Mascouche, Que.) stealing home.

2B Tyler Favretto (Montreal, Que.) and Yohann Dessureault (Trois-Rivieres, Que.) had singles to cap the three-run third.

As in the other tournaments Simon Lusignan (Varennes, Que.) hit all the corners pitching five innings allowing two runs on four hits and fanning two. He threw 56 pitches (58% for strikes). Antoine Jean (Montreal, Que.) pitched a scoreless inning allowing two hits, a walk and striking out one.

LF Jean-Christophe Masson (Levis, Que.) drove in a pair of runs. RF Antony Gilbert (Quebec City, Que.) doubled and knocked in a run, Cédric De Grandpré (St-Simon-De-Bagot, Que.), Nicolas Tremblay (Mont St-Hilaire, Que.) and 1B Jason Bégin (Sherbrooke, Que.) had one hit apiece.

Masson led Quebec hitters with a .692 average (9-for-13) with two doubles, a homer and five RBIs. He had an 1.855 OPS in six games.

Earlier: The ABC’s first win of the summer was the Dynamic 16U Elite Invitational Championship at the University of North Carolina. The ABC opened with a 4-2 win against the CBC Blue Sox 16U at UNC. Next, ABC thumped the CBA Copperheads 10-1 at Durham Athletic Park to move to 2-0. Then, Fatal’s crew beat CBA Golden Spikes 2020 by a 7-2 score moving to 3-0 at UNC before losing 4-2 to Canes National 2020 at Durham Athletic Park.

Pool A
Team W L T
Canes National 2020 3 0 1 21 4
Academy Baseball Canada 16u 3 1 0 25 9
CBC Blue Sox 16U 2 2 0 13 19
CBA Copperheads 1 2 1 10 21
NCBA Golden Spikes 2020 0 4 0 9 25

In the final, the ABC gained revenge beating Canes National 2020 2-1 at UNC.

Antoine Jean (Montreal, Que.) was named MVP of the Dynamic invitational tourney.

The ABC went 4-3 at 15th annual the WWBA 2020 Grads or 16U National Championship at Perfect Game Park at LakePoint in Cartersville, Ga. In all, 384 teams were on hand.

Next stop was the e Perfect Game 16U Invitational at Clay Gould Ballpark on the University of Texas-Arlington campus where the ABC went 6-0.

Coach Rob Fatal and pitching coach pitching coach Rene-Dave Pelchat’s staff went a combined 17-3 in the three tournies.

Alfonso Villalobos (Kirkland, Que.) homered against Waco.

In the opener: The ABC scored five times in the first inning on the way to a 10-0 romp over T.H.A. Stix-Mathews. With two out in the first, Gilbert singled and Alfonso Villalobos (Kirkland, Que.) singled in a run, but the five-run first-inning rally was also bulked up by two walks and three hit batters. Villalobos homered and drove in a pair of runs. Dessureault worked four scoreless allowing three hits and two walks, while fanning a pair. He threw 59 pitches (57 for strikes). Gilbert had two hits and knocked in a pair. Begin doubled in a pair of runs. LF Robin Gervais (Mascouche, Que.) and Masson had the other hits.

Game 2 ends with a 22: If the opener was a walk in the park, Game 2 was a day at the beach: a 22-0 thumping of DBAT-Court. William Lacroix (Laval, Que.) and Nathan Petit-Fréchette (Drummondville, Que.) each pitched a combined no hitter. Jean and Gervais each tripled to knock in three runs apiece. ABC made it a laugher with a 15-run second. Tyler, Trembley and Jean each had two hits while Begin and Tyler each drove in a pair. Lacroix worked two scoreless and hitless innings fanning five. Petit-frednette pitched one inning.

One more makes three in a row: RF Masson was a perfect 4-for-4 as the ABC thumped MAC Elite-2020 10-4 to move to 3-0. 2B Tyler doubled in a pair of runs, while SS Dessureault singled. Jean pitched two scoreless allowing one hit, while walking one and striking out a pair. Lusignan gave up four runs in 2/3 of an inning on five hits and a walk before Sébastien Simard (Gatineau, Que.) finished with 2 2/3 scoreless, fanning two.

One more made four straight: The ABC staff was awarded a 7-0 win by forfeit over the Austin Horns 16u when it was discovered that the Horns had illegal players.

Another wraps up pool play at 5-0: Six runs in the third powered the ABC to a 9-2 win against 3n2 Citius Espy, completing round-robin play undefeated. SS Benjamin Sauve-Gebhardt (Mascouche, Que.), who knocked in a run, kicked things off in the third, with a double and after an error, DH Degrandpre singled in a run, Three straight walks set the stage for a run-scoring single by Simon Menier (Chicoutimi, Que.). After a wild pitch, Tremblay tripled home a run. The other hits went to Nicolas Deschamps (Quebec City, LF Masson and 2B Gilbert. Connor Hanley-Hodge (Île Bizard, Que.) worked 2 2/3 innings allowing two runs -- one earned -- as he fanned five in his 59-pitch outing. Jaycob Lachance (Sainte-Anne-De-La-Pérade, Que.) pitched 2 1/3 scoreless.

Pool Standings Pool Tie Breaker Rules
Pool A PCT W L T RA RS
Academy Baseball Canada 1.000 5 0 0 6 58
T.H.A. Stix-Mathews .700 3 1 1 13 28
3n2 Citius Espy .600 3 2 0 24 33
DBAT-Court .400 2 3 0 55 27
MAC Elite-2020 .300 1 3 1 36 26
Austin Horns 16u .000 0 5 0 38 0

Semi-final win, makes it 6-0: Degrandpre pitched a complete game working six inning giving ABC a 3-1 win against MWE 16u-Bandy in the semi-final. He allowed one run on three hits and two walks, while fanning three. He threw 99 pitches (52% strikes). Mason was one of three players to manage a pair of hits. He hit a solo homer. Gilbert also had a pair of hits and drove in a run, as did Tyler, who doubled and tripled. The other hits went to Villalobos and Degrandpre.

Antoine Jean (Montreal, Que. voted MVP at TCU.

All-tournament pitchers
Player Team No. Grad City W-L ERA IP H K BB ER WHIP
Antoine Jean ABC 2019 Montreal QC 0-0 .000 3.0 3 3 2 0 1.667

ABC runs table again at Fort Worth, making it three tournament wins