D-backs Nike RBI team's journey to WS championship felt 'like a movie'

VERO BEACH, Fla. -- An action-packed Nike RBI Baseball World Series wrapped up last weekend, with the senior and junior divisions crowning new champions. The Arizona Diamondbacks (senior) and the Dodgers (junior) Dreamteam Nike RBI programs each emerged victorious after hard-fought efforts at the historic Jackie Robinson Training Complex in Vero Beach, Fla.

The Nike RBI World Series is the culmination of an entire season of work for all teams and personnel involved, highlighting the dedication and resources Major League Baseball dedicates to its Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) programs.

Under a hot August sun, hundreds of high school-aged players, representing their local Nike RBI programs, competed for four straight days through pool-play, elimination and eventual championship rounds.

The semifinal of the senior division, in particular, will surely go down as an all-time classic in the Nike RBI World Series catalogue. The showdown between the Braves and Diamondbacks Nike RBI teams went for a whopping 14 innings, double the normally allotted 7 innings for games at this level, showcasing the grit from both teams to fight to the very end.

“These boys don't give up, they grind it out,” said Eric Figueroa, coach of the Diamondbacks squad, after the championship win.

For anyone present for that semifinal game, Figueroa’s words rang true, as the Atlanta and Arizona squads kept the crowd on the edge of their seats every time a player got into scoring position.

Eventually, however, the Diamondbacks pulled it off in walk-off fashion behind a base hit to shallow left by Julioelam Reina -- an instant core memory for the team and others watching.

“It's going to live in my head forever, never going to forget it,” said Figueroa. “It felt like a dream, like a movie, those 14 innings.”

That dream-like, movie moment propelled the Diamondbacks to their first-ever Nike RBI World Series Championship in a matchup against a fellow first-time team, the Indy Nike RBI program.

Adolfo Pacheco, the catcher for Diamondbacks Nike RBI and a Chandler-Gilbert Community College commit, rode the wave of that big semifinal win all the way to the final and another walk-off win, albeit on a passed ball. Perhaps not as exciting, but thrilling nonetheless.

“I don't think the adrenaline has left my body since last night,” said Pacheco, a long-time member of the Diamondbacks Nike RBI team who knows the highs and lows the squad has gone through in recent years. “This is the fourth year I've been here, and we've always come up short the last three, and this one we were able to pull through.”

At the end of it all, the players from Arizona finally got over the hump, taking the 5-4 victory over a very competitive Indy team.

Following the game, Juan Hernandez, right-handed pitcher and Pima College commit, won the MLB Develops MVP award, presented by Chevrolet.

Hernandez allowed just two hits in six innings, keeping the Diamondbacks in the game after he gave up three runs early on, something he didn’t let deter him as he went on to strike out six before reaching his pitch limit.

“My mindset was just keeping my zeros as long as I could after those runs,” said Hernandez. “I didn't let that affect me. … When I would go into the dugout, I would clear my mind.”

Hernandez and the rest of the Diamondbacks team showcased trademark grit from their semifinal win through the championship, relying on their entire unit to get the job done.

“I had full faith in every single one of my teammates,” said Hernandez. “I knew whoever came in next was gonna get the job done.”

With the baseball divisions wrapped up, the softball edition of the Nike RBI World Series is now underway. The Diamondbacks Nike RBI program is fielding a team in that tournament as well, setting up another possible celebration in Arizona.