JUPITER,Fla. —As expected, Georgia’s East Cobb Astros grabbed the No. 1 seed in bracket play at the World Wood Bat Association Fall Championship. The 2003 champions and 2005 co-champions went 3-0 in pool play and didn’t allow a run in any of their three games after defeating the Perfect Game Gold team 12-0 Sunday morning.

Eight teams finished pool play with perfect 3-0 records, but the Astros earned the top seed by allowing the fewest runs (the first tie-breaker) and scoring the most when the second tie-breaker was applied. The Astros outscored their three Pool 9 opponents by a combined score of 32-0.

East Cobb was scheduled to draw the No. 32-seeded team, the Bellaire (Texas ) Off-Season Cardinals (2-1) when the 32-team championship bracket began Sunday afternoon. The 20 pool champions advanced, along with 12 wild-card teams—generally teams that finished with 2-1 records.

Chet Lemon’s Juice (3-0) earned the No. 2 seed. The Juice, 2005 co-champions with East Cobb, also didn’t allow a run after completing pool play Sunday morning with a 10-0 victory over East Cobb’s No. 2 team, the Shamrocks (1-2), as three pitchers combined on a one-hitter. The Juice scored 11 less runs overall than the Astros and were matched up with No. 31 Champions Baseball of Florida in the opening round of the playoffs.

While East Cobb and the Juice, two of the nation’s prominent travel programs, were expected to be candidates for the top seed, the performance of the No. 3 seeded team, the unheralded Baseball U Prospects (3-0), was completely unexpected. The Prospects, composed of unheralded seniors from seven Northeastern states, didn’t allow a run in winning Pool 16 but managed to score only eight runs overall. The Prospects were scheduled to play No. 30 seed Tri-State Arsenal of New Jersey.

Baseball U defeated North Carolina ’s On Deck O’s 1-0 Sunday morning in a game to determine first place in Pool 16. Righthander Stephen Rivera (Monsignor Farrell HS, Staten Island, N.Y.) went the distance, walking none, allowing two hits and striking out 11. He threw four pitches consistently for strikes, including a fastball that measured 79-85. On Deck (2-1) still made the championship bracket as an at-large team.

The Atlanta Braves Scout Team (3-0), the most heavily-laden prospect team in the tournament and a pre-tournament favorite, was seeded fourth and scheduled to meet the No. 29 Mid-Atlantic All-Stars in the first round of bracket play. Among the Braves potential first-round picks for 2008 are catcher Kyle Skipworth (Patriot HS, Riverside, Calif.), first baseman Eric Hosmer (American Heritage HS, Cooper City, Fla.) and righthander Gerrit Cole (Orange Lutheran HS, Santa Ana, Calif.). The Braves were the only undefeated/untied team to complete pool play Saturday night.

Other teams to go a perfect 3-0 were the No. 5 seeded Hammertime Warriors of Florida, No. 6 seeded Richmond Braves, No. 7 seeded Orlando Scorpions and No. 8 seeded West Coast MVP Baseball.

One of the biggest surprises among teams not to qualify for pool play was California ’s ABD Bulldogs, a perennially strong contender in WWBA events. The Bulldogs were primed to move on after winning their first two games of the tournament but they let a 3-1 lead going to the seventh inning against Georgia ’s Homeplate Baseball get away in their third pool-play game, and lost 4-3. With ABD, Homeplate and Cangelosi Baseball all finishing at 2-1 in Pool 16, Cangelosi was awarded the automatic seed to the championship round because it allowed the fewest runs overall (7). Both Homeplate, which allowed nine, and ABD, which gave up 12, were left on the outside looking in.

Possibly the strongest pool of all was Pool 4, which included the Florida Bombers, Ontario Blue Jays and the Texas Scout Team. With a 2-1 Blue Jays win over the Bombers on Sunday morning, all three teams finished at 2-1 and ended up making the 32-team field—making it the only pool with three playoff teams. The Bombers earned the automatic bid by allowing only two runs, while Texas (3 runs) and the Blue Jays (5 runs) secured at-large berths on the same runs-against tie breaker.

DAY THREE NOTEBOOK/Pool Play

East Cobb made easy work of Perfect Game Gold in its final pool-play game, winning 12-0 in four innings as the tournament run-rule ended the contest prematurely. Lefthander Will West, a sophomore from North Florida Christian High in Tallahassee, Fla., and the next in a line of East Cobb top pitching prospects, combined with junior righthander Zack Wheeler (East Paulding HS, Dallas, Ga.) on a one-hitter. West pitched to contact at 81-83 mph but is projected to add 8-10 mph to his velocity as he fills out his 6-foot-2, 170-pound frame. Wheeler was clocked at 90-92 . . . Shortstop Tim Beckham, the top-rated high school position player for the 2008 draft according to some scouts, completed an uneventful tournament by going 0-for-3 in the Atlanta Blue Jays 3-3 tie Sunday morning with PG Maroon. In three games, Beckham went 1-for-9 with four strikeouts. The Blue Jays failed to advance . . . Righthander Daniel Marrs (James River HS, Midlothian, Va.), who once held the distinction of being the No. 1-ranked pitching prospect in the 2008 high school class, was erratic in the Virginia Hurricanes 3-2 loss to Southwest Florida Baseball. Marrs worked the first three innings, giving up three unearned runs while walking three and striking out one. His velocity was up to 94 mph, but he had limited command of his fastball, splitter and changeup. The 6-foot-2, 208-pound Marrs gave up only one earned run in his first 29 innings in the spring at James River High and was dominant with a fastball that topped at 95 mph before he missed a couple of starts with a sore shoulder that was originally thought to be tendonitis. He attempted to pitch through it but it was later determined to be an impingement in the shoulder capsule and he was shut down for the summer to rehab the injury. He began throwing again on Sept. 30 and has been erratic since . . . Potential 2008 first-rounder Aaron Hicks (Woodrow Wilson HS, Long Beach, Calif.) is being scouted primarily as a position player because of his exceptional tools—he’s a switch-hitter with impressive bat speed and extension, runs the 60 in 6.4 seconds and has an 80 arm in center field—but he continues to intrigue scouts with his work on the mound, especially as he has struggled to hit. Hicks was clocked at 94 mph with a loose, effortless delivery in the San Gabriel Valley (Calif. ) Arsenal’s 1-0 win over the Orioles Scout Team. He also showcased a true 83 mph slider.