Hoover High freshman selected for national baseball game

A Hoover High School freshman was selected to play in the seventh annual 14U Perfect Game Select Baseball Festival in Fort Myers, Florida, in early September.

Jaxson Wood, who will be on the Hoover High baseball team this spring, was one of 48 players selected to play in the Sept. 4 game at JetBlue Park, which is the spring training facility for the Boston Red Sox. He was one of 24 players on the East Coast team, which lost 12-2 to the West Coast team, according to his father, T.K. Wood.

The game was streamed live on perfectgame.tv and aired on CBS Sports.

Jaxson Wood, who played shortstop, second and third base and left field, recently turned 15 but was able to play in the 14U game because he was in that age group during the 14U Perfect Game season this year, his father said. He also recently verbally committed to play college baseball at the University of Tennessee in the future after being offered a scholarship there, his father said.

Each player selected for the 14U Perfect Game Select Festival raised money for two charitable causes. One was an effort to help families experiencing pediatric cancer at Golisano Children’s Hospital in Fort Myers, and the other was to raise money for the Perfect Game Cares Foundation’s Grow the Game Fund, which seeks to provide opportunities for baseball and softball players from underserved and at-risk communities across the country.

Jaxson Wood raised more than $2,800 for the charities, and the 48 players selected for the festival this year together raised more than $133,000, T.K. Wood said.

Jaxson Wood also was named the G Form Heart, Bravery and Passion Impact Player at the Perfect Game banquet the night before the game.