Area baseball players selected to play in Perfect Game World Series

Four area baseball players are making the most of their summer, being chosen to play for Baseball Northwest at the 14U Perfect Game World Series in Georgia.

Catcher/first baseman Scott Artzer (Richland), outfielder/pitcher Ben Fewel (Richland), infielder/pitcher Hyatt Utzman (Pullman), and third baseman/outfielder/pitcher Evan Thompson (Hanford) all play in the TBuck Training program, led by former Richland High standout Travis Buck.

“It is a testament to them having a successful summer season,” Buck said of his players. “They performed well from March through July. They deserve it.”

Buck said the players were chosen by scouts from Baseball Northwest, who travel to watch several tournaments over the summer and evaluate players.

“They look for kids who would be a good fit and would perform well against the best players in the country,” Buck said. “It’s good to see these kids from the east side get a chance to play against the top players in the country, and get to play in front of a lot of college coaches.”

Baseball Northwest, which has players from Washington, Oregon, California, Colorado and Canada on its roster, finished pool play Wednesday with a 3-1-0 record. It dropped it’s opening game Monday, a 4-3 loss to Elite Squad (Florida).

Baseball Northwest then beat U.S. Elite (Pennsylvania) 6-5 on Tuesday. Wednesday, Baseball Northwest beat the East Cobb Astros (Georgia) 6-2, then topped the Midwest Prospects Scout Team (Missouri) 7-5 to reach Thursday’s quarterfinals against Team Beast Black (New York). The tournament runs through Friday.

“They have performed well,” Buck said. “They have hit well and played good defense. They struggled in the first game, but once they got a couple at-bats and played some defense, they believed they belonged. They have shown they belong on the national level, which is good to see.”

Buck is coaching Baseball Northwest’s 16U team at the tournament. They won their opener Wednesday, a 1-0 win over Motor City Hit Dogs (Michigan).

This story was originally published July 26, 2017 at 5:12 PM with the headline "Area baseball players selected to play in Perfect Game World Series."