TravelBallSelect recognizes the 14U Creeks Redwolves successful season with an Honorable Mentioned in the last rankings.  The Creeks Baseball Club out of Jacksonville, FL finished the season with an impressive record of 59-9-1 with a few of the loses at the hands of older teams.  The Manager, Rusty Melcolm, received assistance from coaches Tracy Wildes, Reggie Stewart and Luis Romero.  Together they were able to lead this team to multiple tournament championships and wins over notable teams like Tampa Cannons twice (ranked 15th nationally by TBS), Tampa Bay Warriors twice (AAU National Champs), Virginia Mavericks, Memphis Tigers (Honorable Mentioned), and tied Home Plate (Honorable Mentioned).  As the number one 14U AAU team in the nation, the team was positioned to capture this title (AAU World Series) until their season was cut short due to High School football commitments.

The team was made up of ten players: Jared Crump, Dustin Danner, Evan DiCicco, Luke Johnson, Reed Melcolm, Jay Nessler, Avery Rawls, Avery Romero, DJ Stewart, and Hunter Wildes.  The strength of the team was in its hitting as the team’s batting average hovered around .400.  Leading the way was DJ Stewart with a .495 average with 11 homeruns, 10 triples, and 21 doubles.  Avery Romero led the team with a .954 slugging percentage as he clicked off 19 dingers (one out of every 11 at bats), 2 triples and 22 doubles to compliment his .477 average.  Evan DiCicco was another stick with impressive numbers.  He finished with a .458 average and collected 81 hits on the year.  The hitting success was due to a discipline approach at the plate.  When the team was not getting on base with hits, it was because they worked the pitcher for a walk.  Hunter Wildes led the team with 58 walks (once out of every four at bats).  That is how the team’s on base percentage was over .500 and the team averaged over eight runs per game.

This doesn’t mean the team did not have the pitching and defensive skills to win games because everyone knows you have to pitch well and play error free baseball to win championships.  The Redwolves’ workhorse on the hill was Avery Rawls who logged most of the innings as a pitcher.  He also averaged one strikeout per inning pitched while collecting the most wins with 11.  Jared and Evan both were effective on the mound.  Evan dominated the hitters by striking out 64 over 53 innings while Jared relied on the flashy defense of Reed Melcolm and Jay Nessler keep the runs off of the scoreboard.

Regardless of the individual successes, the Redwolves won with their unselfish team play.  As a result, a winning attitude was cultured.  Look for more of the same winning performances next year from this Florida team.

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