JUPITER,Fla. —There are often defining moments in national-level high school tournaments or showcase events when a young player elevates his game to a point that he becomes the talk of the event. One of those defining moments may have happened here Friday at the World Wood Bat Association Fall Championship.

Righthander Gerrit Cole worked only one inning for the Atlanta Braves Scout Team in a hard-fought 2-1 win over Florida ’s Winning Inning but his performance was so dominating that he may have shot to the top of the pack in the high school Draft Class of 2008.

The 6-foot-3, 190-pound Cole was clocked at 96-97 mph and his fastball had exceptional life with run and sink to both sides of the plate. His curveball, which had slider action, was a filthy 82 mph and he also flashed a plus changeup at 81. Moreover, he had excellent command of all his pitches and delivered them with smooth, easy mechanics from a three-quarters angle.

“Rick Porcello was 97 here last year—and that’s the moment he went to No. 1 in the country,” said Perfect Game national director Jerry Ford. “Cole was better tonight. This is the best high school arm I can remember seeing. I’ve seen guys throw harder but their ball is usually straight. Cole showed the kind of life that you normally see from a little lefthander throwing 84.”

Cole, a senior at Orange Lutheran High in Santa Ana, Calif., and a UCLA recruit, was the fourth of six pitchers used by the Braves Scout Team. They combined to strike out 14 while allowing three hits, even as the team struggled to get past a pesky Winning Inning squad. Four of the six were clocked at 90 mph or better, but none approached Cole, who recorded the best velocity of the 80-team tournament to date. He retired all three hitters he faced, one via a strikeout.

The Braves, a team assembled specifically for the tournament with players from 14 different states, overcame a 1-0 deficit by scoring twice in the sixth inning on a wild pitch and a run-scoring single by Corey Black, a junior from Mission Bay High in San Diego .

Cole, who worked in only 27 innings as a high school junior and just 12 as a sophomore, had given only brief glimpses of his vast potential prior to Friday—notably at Perfect Game’s Sunshine West Showcase in San Diego in June, when he topped out at 95. That led to an invitation to PG’s National Showcase later in the month in Cincinnati , where he lacked command of his stuff but again flashed a mid-90s fastball.

He was also extended an invitation to USA Baseball’s junior national trials in Cary, N.C., but Cole pitched poorly at that event and was not selected to the team that represented the U.S. in Mexico in August at the Americas ’ qualifier for the 2008 World junior championship. However, all was not lost as Cole was selected to play in the Aflac All-American Game in San Diego in August and he was the dominant pitcher at the event, touching 95 in his one-inning cameo.

It all came together for him again Friday night—a performance that was reminiscent of Porcello’s a year ago and led to the New Jersey righthander ascending to the top of the high school charts entering 2007. Cole’s dominant showing could raise him to the same status entering 2008.

Rainy Days and Fridays

Rain played havoc with the WWBA schedule on Friday as only 15 games of an original schedule of 55 were played. The first three sessions of games on 13 fields at the combined spring training complexes of the Florida Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals were rained out or cancelled because of unplayable conditions, prompting the adoption of a new tournament format and drafting of an entirely new schedule. Less than half the games on that slate were played.

While the original schedule called for 16 pools of five teams in a round-robin format with the champion in each pool advancing to bracket play, the revamped format re-configured teams into 20 pools of four teams, while providing for one less pool-play game for every team. The winner of each pool, along with 12 wild-card teams, will now advance to an expanded bracket field of 32 teams. That portion of the tournament will begin Sunday with the championship game still set for Monday.

With all of Friday’s cancellations, 30 teams had yet to play their first tournament game through Friday’s action. Two others were involved in a game suspended in the fourth inning by darkness.

Favorites Continue to Roll

The four teams established as pre-tournament favorites—the Braves Scout Team, the East Cobb (Ga. ) Astros, the St. Louis Cardinals Scout Team and the Texas Scout Team—all won their opening games. The Braves were the only team to struggle, with their 2-1 win over Winning Inning.

East Cobb and the Cardinals Scout Team won decisive games on Friday, while the Texas Scout Team, another team assembled specifically for the tournament with players from seven states, won 12-0 in four innings over Perfect Game USA Kelly Green. Righthander Ross Seaton (Second Baptist HS, Sugar Land, Texas) threw a no-hitter in the run-rule game with the only base runner coming on a third-inning error. First baseman Jeff Decker (Sunrise Mountain HS, Peoria, Ariz.) slugged a fourth-inning grand slam while driving in five runs overall to pace the Texas Scout Team.

The Ohio Warhawks, with a roster that has players from eight states (but none from Ohio ), also rank as a strong contender. The Warhawks narrowly pulled out a 3-2 win Friday over Perfect Game Purple as shortstop Niko Vasquez (Durango HS, Las Vegas, Nev.), the top-ranked prospect from Nevada, belted a three-run homer in the third inning.

Five Warhawk pitchers combined on a two-hitter with righthanders Jonathon Pettibone (Esperanza HS, Yorba Linda, Calif.) and Trey Haley (Central Heights HS, San Augustine, Texas) tossing two hitless innings apiece. Pettibone, who started the game, struck out three with a fastball that peaked at 91, while Haley fanned four while reaching 93.

DAY TWO NOTEBOOK

While rain seriously interrupted play Friday and threatened the start of action at 8 a.m. on Saturday, more than 500 scouts and college coaches were in attendance . . . At 95 mph, lefthander Anthony Gose (Bellflower, Calif., HS) generated the best fastball velocity in the tournament until he was upstaged later in the day by Cole. Gose is viewed by scouts primarily as a center fielder capable of running the 60-yard dash in 6.51 seconds, but he fanned 10 in five innings as the San Gabriel (Calif. ) Arsenal had to settle for a 7-7 tie with the Dallas Panthers. Gose’s velocity was erratic in the first two innings, dipping to 81 mph on a couple of pitches, but he was a steady 94-95 and virtually unhittable in the third and fourth innings. But just as quickly as he found his stuff, he lost it in the fifth. His velocity dipped to the high 80s and he was racked for five runs in the inning on two hit batsmen, two singles and a three-run homer by catcher Chris Wilson (Cathedral Catholic HS, San Diego ). Gose helped key his team to a five-run outburst of its own in the bottom of the fifth with a single. Shortstop Cody Dent (Park Vista HS, Boynton Beach, Fla.), son of former big leaguer Bucky Dent, went 2-for-2 off Gose . . . Righthander Jordan Darnell (Ardrey Kell HS, Charlotte, N.C.) pitched North Carolina’s On-Deck O’s to a 4-1 win over Baseball Northwest on a complete-game, four-hitter with 12 strikeouts. He threw four pitches for strikes with a fastball in the 87-88 mph range . . . Tyler Chatwood (Redlands East Valley HS, Yucaipa, Calif.) did it all for California’s ABD Bulldogs, who won their opening game 5-1 over Florida’s Cangelosi White Sox. Chatwood hit leadoff for his team, scored the game’s first run, caught the first 3 1/3 innings of the game and worked 1 1/3 innings on the mound with an easy arm action that yielded a fastball that topped out at 94 mph. The versatile Chatwood, a UCLA recruit, also played both middle infield positions along with center field for ABD this summer.