Macon RBI baseball team advances to World Series after going undefeated at regional tournament

A Macon youth baseball team is headed to the Nike MLB RBI World Series in Vero Beach, Florida next month after going undefeated through five games July 18-21 to win the league’s Southeast Regional tournament in Miami.

RBI, which stands for Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities, is an organization sponsored by MLB and Nike that is dedicated to raising nonprofit funds for fielding baseball and softball teams in under-served communities — the league has more than 350 teams nationwide according to Jeff Battcher, who founded the Macon RBI team about eight years ago.

“We’re in our ninth season, and we’ve just improved so much since we started,” Battcher said. “In the past several years we had never beaten the team from Atlanta or some of the other teams who have been around longer or might be sponsored by a major league team, but this year we managed to do that.”

The team out of Atlanta is sponsored by the Atlanta Braves, Battcher said, while a south Florida team is sponsored by the Miami Marlins. For years, the competition was tough for the Macon 15U team just starting up on a smaller budget.

“We were losing pretty often to some larger teams from Atlanta, Chattanooga, places like that with scores like 10-0, 8-0, that type of thing,” Battcher said. “I’m so proud we’ve come so far to make it to this point.”

The Macon RBI team, which features players from schools like Rutland, Appling Middle School, Howard and others, won the region championship 10-9 in extra innings on a walk-off passed ball over an RBI team from Jacksonville.

“They’re coached by guys with a lot of baseball experience and now we also have some kids from outside of Middle Georgia, but it’s a great group,” Battcher said. “We’re just so lucky they get to play baseball, get their uniforms paid for and have this experience.”

Not only are the team’s uniforms paid for, but MLB and RBI will pay for the team to travel to Vero Beach for the nationwide tournament.

“It will be a lot of these kids’ first time on a plane, so that’s very exciting,” Battcher said. “I would still like to get some new equipment for them, too, but the fact that the plane tickets and hotel are taken care of is phenomenal. We’ve never gotten to this level, it’s been a lot of fun.”

The World Series will be hosted at the Jackie Robinson Training Complex in Vero Beach August 5-10. In order to qualify for the region championship, the team had to play a certain number of games against RBI competition, then win the region title.

As for standout team players, Battcher wouldn’t name a single team member but praised the entire squad for making it through the tournament.

“I know the term is overused, but it really is a team effort,” Battcher said. “We have 16 kids on the team and every one of them tries their hardest and works towards winning. At this level, they all do a little bit of pitching, and we don’t have one particular home run hitter, the whole team is just a really well-oiled machine this year. The coaches also deserve a lot of credit.”

The team is led by head coach and manager Keldrick Burke along with assistant coaches Brandon Harris, Nick Wiggins and Rodney Mangham. All have baseball experience — Mangham logged time in the Houston Astros minor league system.

The RBI program nationwide provides a pathway for the players to train at a high level in baseball.

“We have a lot of kids from single-parent households, and those players need the individual and team sponsorships to practice and play,” Battcher said. “That makes it even more exciting that they’ve made it this far and get this opportunity.”

Macon’s team plays at Tom Fontaine Complex near Hartley Elementary School, on a newly-turfed, $1.6 million field that opened in 2020. Teams began using the field in 2021. Macon RBI also had 18U and ages 13-18 softball teams in the Florida tournament.

To donate to Macon RBI, visit bgccg.networkforgood.com and designate a donation for Macon RBI.