August 20, 2009

Aruba pours it on, 14-1, over New Jersey to clinch semi berth

Latin America champion Aruba bounced back from a loss earlier this week with an 11-1 victory Wednesday night over Italy. With stellar pitching and the bats finally heating up, the Arubans looked like a formidable championship contender.

On Thursday afternoon, they did nothing to dispel that notion.

After being held scoreless for the first four innings, Aruba scored 14 runs in the final two frames to cruise into Friday’s semifinal round with a 14-1, six-inning victory over U.S. East representative South Vineland L.L., from Vineland, N.J.

The No. 2 seed in Pool B, Aruba (3-1) will play Northern California at 11:30 a.m. in Friday’s first semifinal, while New Jersey was eliminated from advancing with a 2-2 record.

Through the first four innings, New Jersey starter Andrew Biggs had shut down the Aruba bats, but in the fifth inning they finally broke out after squandering a bases loaded opportunity in the second.

The Latin America champs sent 14 batters to the plate in the fifth, scoring nine runs on six hits and taking advantage of one New Jersey error. Jiandido Tromp started the barrage with a bases loaded triple to the warning track in center field, some 390 feet from home plate, off Biggs. Shurman Marlin (single) and Edson Thiel (double) also had RBI hits and Tromp added a fourth RBI for himself in the inning with a single in his second at-bat of the inning. Cedrik Sint Jago and Jair Bogaerts “drove in” runs on a walk and hit batsman.

“We just come here with the mindset that we’re going to win, win, win, win, win,” Tromp said. “Just sit on a good pitch, hit it hard, score runs, feel good, and that’s it. Fundamentals, fundamentals.”

The explosion featured three successfully executed hit-and-runs.

“We tried to make them use the bat, not lose the bat,” Aruba first-base coach Norman Silvania said. “And that’s what happened. We said if we can use the hit-and-run it would be easier for them to make contact with the ball because [New Jersey] doesn’t field good. We told them if they get a ball in the field, we got a chance to score runs.”

“When we came here, everyone predicted Aruba to win the whole thing,” New Jersey manager Carlos Negron said. “We can see now why they’ve been predicted to win the whole thing. These kids are awesome. Defensively they play very well and they can hit the hell out of the ball, that’s for sure.”

Bogaerts was hit twice in the game and took offense both times, glaring at Biggs, who hit him in the second inning, and at Chris Bell, who hit him in the fifth.

Negron said Jersey’s strategy was to pitch Bogaerts away, not in, and that Biggs “probably got a little nervous and lost a little bit of control” knowing Bogaerts was one of Aruba’s better hitters.

In the sixth inning, Aruba scored five more runs to end the game because of the 10-run mercy rule. Tromp again delivered the big blow, a two-run triple to right-center field off Bell that gave him three hits and six RBIs in two innings.

New Jersey just couldn’t get anything done against Aruba pitcher Signarf Loopstok. The right-hander walked the bases loaded in the first inning but escaped and turned away a threat in the second inning, in which three Jersey batters reached base. Jersey’s lone run came in the fifth after Loopstok walked lead-off batter Brandon Valez and Valez stole second, advanced to third on a fly out, and came home on a single to right by Holvin Figueroa.

“In the first inning I was not feeling comfortable, until the second inning, when I relaxed,” Loopstok said through Silvania. “After the runs came, it became easier for me to pitch and just relax. I had no problem throwing strikes at the moment. There was no pressure.”

It was a disappointing end to the series for South Vineland, which has made three trips to Bangor since 2002 and finished 2-2 each time without reaching the semifinal round.

“Just to be here, I told them, is an awesome experience,” Negron said. “There’s millions and millions of kids that play baseball every year, and this week there’s maybe only a hundred and fifty kids out here playing in the World Series. There’s millions out there who would love to be out here in their situation. So there’s nothing to be ashamed about.”

Aruba post-game comments
New Jersey post-game comments

Host’s bid for 2nd win comes up short in extras – again

With a 3-0 record, the U.S. West representative from Fremont, Calif., had already clinched a berth in Friday’s semifinals. So regardless of Thursday evening’s outcome, the California boys were moving on.

That didn’t stop the boys from taking every piece of momentum into the semis, though.

After Maine District 3 representative Bangor rallied from a 5-0 deficit and eventually took a 6-5 lead in the eighth inning, Northern California put together a rally of its own, scoring two in the bottom of the inning to escape with a 7-6 victory at Mansfield Stadium.

Northern California (4-0) is the only remaining undefeated team left and will take on Aruba at 11:30 a.m. Friday in the first semifinal game. Bangor finishes the tournament 1-3 after suffering back-to-back extra-inning losses.

In the second inning, Northern California pushed across three runs, taking advantage of a Bangor error in the process to take a 3-0 lead. Bangor infielders cut down two runners at the plate on force outs, but the error, by catcher Adam King, who tried to throw out Jordan Fereira at first to complete a double play, allowed two runs to score. A single by Marc Wik made it 3-0.

In the fourth inning, Northern California extended the lead to 5-0 on an RBI ground out by Wik and Casey Jennings RBI double off the left field fence.

Bangor rallied, though, behind the play of Nicholas Cota. Cota had three hits on the afternoon, including an RBI double in the sixth inning that sparked the Bangor squad. He tied the game in the seventh inning with an RBI single up the middle.

Through five innings, Northern California pitchers Justin Dhanda and Beau Lawrence had stifled the Bangor offense, allowing only three hits and issuing only one walk. In the top of the sixth inning, however, Luke Hetterman led off for the host by looking at four straight balls from Lawrence, who had taken over on the mound for Dhanda at the beginning of the fourth inning. After Lawrence struck out Jack Stacey, Cota launched a double to right-center field that scored Hetterman. A Tyler Desjardin ground out advanced Cota to third, enabling Joe Stanevicz to score him with single on a 3-2 pitch.

After the game, Northern California manager Perry Romero discussed his decision to leave Lawrence in despite the pitcher’s shaky performance in the sixth inning.

“He hasn’t had a chance to pitch this tournament,” Romero said. “I think the last time he might have pitched was Western Regionals or in divisionals. I called time out and I knew he was at 60 [pitches] and I could probably keep him for Sunday, but I asked him, ‘How you feeling,’ and he said, ‘Coach, I really want this.’ And that’s why I left him out there.”

In the seventh, Jacques Larochelle took Lawrence to a full count before walking to begin the inning for Bangor. Curtis Worcester then ripped an 0-1 pitch into the left field corner for a triple to make it 5-3 in favor of Northern California and stir the hometown crowd. Bangor manager Ron St. Pierre played it safe when Savage hit a grounder to short and held Worcester at third. Northern California manager Perry Romero removed Lawrence from the mound and brought Brandon Ridge in to pitch to Hetterman. St. Pierre’s decision to hold Worcester at third paid off when Hetterman greeted Ridge with a 2-0 single to center to score Worcester and bring Bangor to within one, 5-4.

Romero then turned to Billy Nevin to finish Bangor off. But the right-hander walked Stacey on four pitches and gave up the game-tying single to Cota after getting ahead 0-2. Hetterman raced home from second. Stacey represented the game-winning run on second with one out. Nevin got a foul out and a fly out to keep the game tied.

Worcester retired the side in order in the bottom of the seventh to send the game into extra innings.

In the eighth inning, Cody Savage’s sacrifice fly drove in Larochelle to give Bangor a brief 6-5 lead. Larochelle had singled with one out, advanced to second on a walk to Worcester, and stolen third with Savage at the plate.

However, in the bottom of the inning, Northern California tied the game on a bases loaded single by Wik. After recording the next two outs with the bases still loaded, Bangor pitcher Savage then walked home Nevin to score the winning run.

Despite losing on a walk and finishing the series 1-3, Bangor manager St. Pierre was optimistic about Bangor’s chances for qualifying for next year’s series and taking the next step of winning a second game.

“I think they got a good shot at winning two or possibly three” in next year’s series, St. Pierre said. “We were just – what – three runs away from taking three games here this year? So I think they’ll be back.”

Northern California post-game comments
Maine District 3 post-game comments

Texas East rallies over Wisconsin for semi berth

Texans chip away at early 5-run deficit

The final game of pool play, between Texas East and Wisconsin, had a semifinal berth on the line, with the winner advancing to play in Friday’s semifinal round and the loser going home.

After taking a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning and adding five more in the third, it appeared as though the U.S. Central representative from Madison, Wis., was poised to move on.

The U.S. Southwest team from Houston rallied, though, taking the lead in the fifth inning and getting hitless relief from John Williamson to hold on to defeat Wisconsin 9-8 in a see-saw battle Thursday night at Mansfield Stadium.

Texas (3-1) moves on to play the Philippines in Friday’s 2:30 p.m. semifinal while Wisconsin finishes the tournament 2-2.

In the top of the first inning, Wisconsin jumped on Texas starter Matt Luna, scoring three runs, including a two-run home run to left field by Zach Addamo, as the U.S. Central champ sent eight batters to the plate while taking advantage of a walk, two errors, and a wild pitch.

Texas East responded in the bottom half of the first with two runs of its own as Wisconsin starting pitcher Thomas O’Keefe showed control problems of his own. The 5-foot-10, 150-pound right-hander walked two, hit a batter, and delivered a run-scoring wild pitch. But Wisconsin opened up the gate in the third inning by putting five runs on the board after Addamo struck out the side in the second inning.

Wisconsin sent 10 batters to the plate in the third, collecting four hits and working two walks while benefitting from two more Texas East errors. Luna left the mound after giving up an RBI double by Abe Lenoch that scored the fifth run of the inning. In only 2 2/3 innings, the 6-foot-2, 200-pound right-handed Luna had delivered a whopping 83 pitches, only 42 of which were strikes.

Lefty Williamson came on and shut down the Wisconsin bats the rest of the way, not allowing a hit in 4 1/3 innings. He did not give up a run despite walking six batters in picking up the victory.

“I felt great, actually,” Williamson said. “My slider wasn’t too good, but I was really pounding the zone with my fastball.”

The composed squad from Texas regrouped after the five-run Wisconsin third and scored at least a run in each of the first five innings, including two in four of those frames.

“We just had to stay composed and we knew we were going to come around with the bats,” Texas East’s Michael Resnick said. “We just had to make sure we had the mental side of the game where everyone stayed as a team, no one got down on someone. Everyone picked each other up, and that’s exactly what happened.”

And after taking a 9-8 lead in the bottom of the fifth, that was all Texas East would need, as the U.S. Southwest champ finally caught up with Wisconsin on an RBI triple by Williamson that tied the score 8-8 in the fifth and what proved to be a game-winning sacrifice fly by Cole Lankford that brought Williamson home.

“It was supposed to be a fastball down and away and I left it up and he hit it hard to left and it was tailing a lot,” Wisconsin pitcher Sean Blythe said of Williamson’s tying hit.

“I’ve been trying to pull the ball, and I got two strikes and I knew that I just had to go the other way and get a big hit for us and get a run,” Williamson said of his triple. “I stayed back and I just tried to put it over the shortstop’s head and something happened.”

Texas East post-game comments
Wisconsin post-game comments

South Carolina trumps Canada to salvage 2-2 record

U.S. Southeast champ started series 0-2

After Wednesday evening’s extra-inning win over Maine District 3, South Carolina hoped to get the bats going, something that carried the U.S. Southeast champion through regional play.

Despite losing their first two games of pool play and being mathematically eliminated from advancing to the semifinals, South Carolina’s bats kept going as they pounded out 12 hits, defeating Canada 11-1 in six innings in a game shortened by the 10-run rule at Mansfield Stadium.

South Carolina wrapped up the Senior League World Series with a 2-2 record, while Cornwall, Ontario, went winless, finishing 0-4. It was a disappointing finish for Canada, as the team lost 1-0 to Maine District 3 in the series opener, 6-3 in 12 innings to Northern California, and 5-4 to the Philippines Wednesday.

South Carolina jumped on the board in the first inning, taking advantage of two errors to take a 3-0 lead.

In the bottom of the third inning, South Carolina scored six more runs to open up a 9-0 advantage, pounding out four hits and taking advantage of two more errors by the Canadian team, which committed six on the day.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Gray Thomas hit a walkoff RBI single to invoke the 10-run mercy rule.

Austin Mason picked up the win for South Carolina, going all six innings and allowing only four hits and one earned run. He struck out six and didn’t walk a batter.

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