Central scores 16 in sixth South Bend sends 22 batters to plate

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BANGOR – South Bend, Ind., could have packed it in Thursday, the final day of round robin play at the Senior League Baseball World Series.

The U.S. Central Region champs trailed Manila, Philippines, 8-1 in the sixth inning and appeared destined for defeat. Instead, the Indiana team demonstrated its resolve.

South Bend piled up 16 runs in the bottom of the sixth, sending 22 batters to the plate, to turn a seven-run deficit into a memorable 17-8 victory at Mansfield Stadium.

Coach David DeRam’s team finished 2-2, but did not reach the semifinals. The Asia Pacific champs from Manila wound up 0-4.

Seven South Bend players scored twice during the marathon sixth, which included nine hits, four Manila errors, four walks and four hit batsmen.

“We knew if we’d have left with a loss, we’d remember it forever,” said John Davis, one of three South Bend players to bat three times in the inning. “We knew we had to come back and win this game.”

The inning started innocently enough as Davis and Dustin Coffman singled, while Paul Piennette reached on an error. Manila starter Joannard Pareja, who had pitched five innings in a 15-1 loss Sunday, then began to run out of gas.

He sandwiched two hit batters around a walk, forcing in three runs, before Nick Baker singled to left, making it 8-5. Pareja walked in two more runs, before South Bend tied it on a fielder’s choice grounder off the bat of Coffman.

The go-ahead run scored on the same play, as the throw from shortstop eluded catcher Christian Galedo.

“We were scrappy; hit by pitch, error, walk,” said Davis, South Bend’s starter, who allowed eight hits and seven runs in the third inning. “We did whatever it took to get runners on base and we got it done.”

Blake McDonald roped an RBI double, Danny Keough ripped an RBI single, Charleton Keultjes stroked a two-run single and Davis added an RBI single as South Bend completed the 16-run turnaround.

“The one thing that we get from our kids is they just never, never quit,” DeRam said. “They’re as tough as they come.”

Keough knocked in three runs with a double and two singles to pace South Bend, while Davis had two hits and two RBIs. McDonald, Baker and Bobby Jordan provided two hits and an RBI apiece.

Aldo Pamplona stroked three singles with an RBI for Manila, which surpassed its tourney hit total with a seven-run, third-inning rally during which it posted eight consecutive hits to go ahead 8-0.

However, South Bend reliever Piennette, who pitched 9 1/3 innings Tuesday, limited the Philippines to six hits and one run in five innings of relief.

John Vijandre provided two singles and an RBI for Manila, while Pareja and Nikko Dizer added two singles each.

SOUTH BEND, IND. 17, MANILA, PHILIPPINES 8

Manila (0-4) South Bend (2-2)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Pareja, p-ss 4 2 2 0 Keultjes, 2b 4 2 2

Arellano, cf 4 1 1 2 Davis, p-ss 4 2 2

Olivares, cf 0 0 0 0 Coffman, cf 5 2 1

Pamplona, rf-1b 4 1 3 1 Piennette, 1b-p 4 0

Corcuera, 1b 3 1 1 1 Bennitt, ss-3b 2 0 0

Denton, rf 1 0 1 1 McDonald, 1b 2 2 1

Dizer, 2b 3 1 2 0 Jordan, rf 2 2 1

a-Kobayashi 1 0 0 0 Keough, c 3 1 3

Vijandre, 3b-p 4 1 2 1 Baker, lf 4 1

Tolome, ss-3b 1 0 0 0 Miller, lf 0 0

Fawcett, lf 2 0 1 1 Sinkiewicz, 3b-1b 3 1

Baquiran, lf 1 0 1 0

Galedo, c 2 1 1 0

b-Roxas 1 0 0 0

Totals 31 8 15 7 Totals 33 17 15 12

a-ran for Pareja in the first, ran for Pamplona in the third, ran for Denton in the fourth, struck out for Dizer in the fifth; b-grounded out for Galedo in the sixth

Manila 007 01 0 0 ? 8

South Bend 000 01(16) x ? 17

E?Corcuera 2, Galedo, Arellano; Piennette; LOB?Manila 4; South Bend 6; 2B?Pareja 2, Corcuera; Keough, McDonald; DP?Piennette-Bennitt-McDonald; S?Tolome 2; SB?Coffman

Manila IP H R ER BB SO

Pareja (L,0-2) 5* 11 14 10 3 2

Vijandre 1 4 3 0 1 0

South Bend IP H R ER BB SO

Davis 2# 9 7 6 0 1

Piennette (W,1-0) 5 6 1 1 0 3

*-pitched to 13 batters in the sixth; #-pitched to seven batters in the third

HBP?McDonald, Keough by Pareja, Jordan, Piennette by Vijandre; WP?Piennette; BK?Pareja; PB?Galledo; T?2:15; ATT?100 (est.)