Houston Raiders 2010 NABF (National Amateur Baseball Federation)

Senior National Champions

The Houston Raiders 18 U White rolled through the 2010 Senior Division NABF World Series in Jackson Mississippi this past week with a perfect 7-0 record. Outstanding pitching was the key to success throughout the tournament but there was no shortage of offense either. It began on Thursday with a 2-0 win in game one against Dave Sugars BB Ohio. Winning pitcher was Corbin Mitchell (Klein Collins 2010/Texas Lutheran University). Game two went to Zecheriah Lemond (Waltrip 2011/ Rice University) with a 5-1 victory against Golden Spikes from Jackson, MS. A game three 6-0 shutout was hurled by right hander, Alexis Garza (McAllen HS 2010/ University of New Mexico/ Houston Astros). The final pool play victory came against the Memphis Tigers and was a 15-4 rout with the win going to Kyle Allen (Cinco Ranch HS 2011) The win gave the Raiders the #1 seed out of their pool. The game was highlighted by an opposite field 365' grand slam by Lucas Moran (Lutheran High North 2010/ University of Houston/ Milwaukee Brewers). Moran added a solo homerun in the 6th inning. The first elimination/quarter final game was a 12 - 7 comeback victory against the Norwood Blues from Chicago. The game was started by Mitchell Taylor (Spring HS 2010/ Toronto Blue Jays), but the win went to Jared Pinson (Kingwood HS 2010/ Galveston College) who pitched 5 shutout innings to finish the game. It was the only time the Raiders trailed in the entire tournament. It also included a home run by Jared Lakind (Cy-Woods 2010/ Arkansas/ Pittsburg Pirates).  The semi final game was an 11-1 win against the Tri-County Bees out of New York.  The win went to Anthony Banda (Sinton HS 2011) and featured another solo homerun by Lakind. It was quite a comeback by Banda after a rough couple of innings in game 5. Banda’s performance was crucial for the Raiders pitching staff. The Sunday afternoon championship game at Smith-Wills Stadium would have the Raiders facing the 2009 NABF Champion Maryland Monarchs. The Monarchs took out the heavily favored Jackson 96ers Blue 1-0 in the second semi final game. The championship game was a combined effort by Lucas Moran (5 innings) and Jared Lakind (4 innings) The Houston  Raiders  took  a 9-2 victory for the 2010 NABF Senior Division National Title. The tournament batting title went to Houston Raiders SS Josh Duran (Spring HS 2010/ North Central Texas College) with a .454 average and Tournament MVP was awarded to Jared Lakind who had 3 home runs. For the 2010 graduates, these were their final games played as Houston Raiders, some of which have been with the organization since the age of 12.

The Raiders pitching staff gave up only 9 earned runs in seven games.  While the offence scored 60 runs.  Raiders pitching staff contains 4 players taken in the 2010 Major League Baseball June Draft.

Mitchell Taylor   Toronto Blue Jays

Jared Lakind   Pittsburg Pirates

Alexis Garza   Houston Astros

Lucas Moran  Milwaukee Brewers