Cooper Holmes has his best stuff when the stakes are the highest.

The junior from Keatchie, Louisiana, worked his way back to the POWER SHOWCASE finals for the third straight time, only to face his toughest challenge of them all. Yet as the pressure intensified and the challenge became even harder, he was at his finest.

Now, Cooper Holmes is the Underclassmen World Champion.

“After being in the finals, this being the third year in-a-row, it feels really good to finally win it,” Holmes said.

In what was one of the most riveting and historic championships in POWER SHOWCASE history, Holmes connected for a walk-off, 415-foot blast to win a swing-off tiebreaker against Texas’ Easton Autrey. After both finalists hit eight home runs in their championship round, a three-out swing-off was then needed to decide the victor.

“He had a great swing, and he hit great. I hit great. He just ended up on top,” Autrey said. “I think I got a little tired early on, and he has been here before and he knows what to do. I was kind of new to it. That was how it went, but it was a great experience overall. It was one of those experiences that I will never forget.”

Autrey rode a wave of momentum into the finale, after advancing with a historic preliminary round that included a 544-foot home run that is the longest in POWER SHOWCASE history. The sophomore from Corsicana continued his strong hitting with his eight long balls to set the bar high in the finals, which included two homers with a wood bat, while also finishing off with two more 500-foot blasts of 501 and 513 feet, respectively.

“The experience here was awesome,” Autrey said. “You get in there and get to hit on a Big League field, with some pretty good bats and pretty good balls, and you try to hit the ball a long way.”

Although it seemed like a mountain’s climb in front of him, Holmes dug in and found his best stuff to ascend to the summit.

“After watching him hit, I knew that eight was pretty hard to beat,” Holmes admitted.

A 364-foot shot with the wood bat got him going, and he continued chipping away once he switched over to the aluminum bat. Homers flew in pairs to help inch Cooper closer, including a 472-foot shot that was immediately followed by a 456-foot blast to pull within one more to tie. Down to his final out, he then connected for a 424-foot long ball that forced the swing-off.

“This year I took a lot more pitches than I usually did,” Homes said. “That just calmed me down. I got late in the round and I was really nervous, but I kept taking pitches and it calmed down, and I hit that one to tie. Then, I wasn’t nervous. But then we had that swing-off, and I was really nervous. But I’m glad I got it over with, and won.”

In a veritable sudden-death scenario, each finalist receives three outs to use in the swing-off. The pressure is at its peak, as even just one home run could be enough to win it.

“I really wasn’t expecting it, but I was hoping it would happen, and it did end up happening,” Autrey said. “He got in there, and he had some great swings. You only get three outs in that swing-off, so at the end of the day, it is baseball and it is fun. I was just trying to go back to my training. When I get tired, I always go back to my preparation. I try not to rise to the occasion; I sink to my preparation. I prepared great for this and I ended up being a little bit gassed, but I came back and ended up doing great.”

Autrey sent a 397-foot shot to get himself on the board in the swing-off, leaving Holmes needing at least one to stay alive and two to win it all. After falling short on his first two swings, he then sent a 401-foot blast to tie things back up, and the next swing walked it off to finally earn him the championship he has chased for the past three years.

“I think I do better with pressure, honestly,” Holmes said. “I had two outs and I didn’t have any home runs in the swing-off, and I hit those back-to-back. It felt really good.”