BANGOR – Urbandale, Iowa, first baseman Dan Murphy was expecting a fastball from South Vineland, N.J., lefty Jonathan Lopez with runners on second and third and one out in the fourth inning of their Senior League World Series opener at Mansfield Stadium Sunday.

That isn’t what he got.

“He threw me a curve but I just stuck the bat out there and got it through the hole [between first and second],” said the lefthanded-hitting Murphy, whose base hit gave his team, the Central champion, an 8-5 lead en route to an 8-7 Pool B round robin win over the East champ.

Later Sunday, hard-throwing lefty Clayton Groover hurled five innings of two-hit, 11-strikeout ball and Jon Schwarze drove in five runs with a pair of doubles and a sacrifice fly as Southwest Regional champ Brenham, Texas, beat Asia-Pacific winner Hatgana, Guam, 13-0 in mercy-rule abbreviated game.

Murphy’s single followed Ryan Duede’s base hit, Pat Hoberg’s drag bunt single and Nate Stevenson’s sacrifice.

Urbandale featured a 14-hit attack and it also had three sacrifice bunts.

“They were one of the best hitting teams we’ve faced,” said Vineland’s Willie Rodriguez, who pitched two innings of five-hit shutout relief.

“We killed the ball during the [Central] Regionals. We’ve been hitting really well,” said Urbandale shortstop-pitcher Ryan Miles, who doubled and singled and knocked in four runs.

“We take pride in our hitting. We work on it a lot,” said Murphy. “We also work a lot on our bunting. You have to get your bunts down in high school or the coaches get all over you.”

“Remember, you’ve got the five best teams in the United States here and you don’t get here if you can’t play fundamental baseball,” said South Vineland manager Dale Elbeuf.

South Vineland took a 1-0 lead in the first but Urbandale answered with three in the bottom of the first on a walk, a Hoberg single, an error and Miles’ bases-clearing sinking line-drive double to right center.

South Vineland, playing in its third straight World Series, took a 4-3 lead on Albert Rivera’s RBI single in the second and third-inning RBIs from Joe Elbeuf (fielder’s choice) and Juni Flores (single).

Urbandale took the lead for good with three runs in the bottom of the third on singles by Hoberg, Stevenson and Murphy, Miles’ RBI fielder’s choice, a run-producing error on an attempted steal and Drew McGrath’s run-scoring single.

South Vineland scored a run without the benefit of a hit in the fourth before Murphy answered with his clutch hit in the bottom of the fourth.

South Vineland added singles run in the sixth and seventh but Miles closed it out, getting two strikeouts on splitters in the seventh and inducing a game-ending flyout for the save. Cody Raisch picked up the win in relief.

Hoberg and Murphy had three hits each for Urbandale while Miles and Derek Johnson had two each.

South Vineland was limited to five hits.

In the second game, Groover didn’t let a hamstring pull hamper his dominant performance.

During one stretch, he registered seven consecutive outs via the strikeout.

“That’s the best curve he’s ever had. His curve broke really well tonight,” said Texas catcher Wiley Crowson.

“A good pitcher’s mound gives you a good curveball. I love that mound,” said Groover.

He walked four and hit a batter while throwing 56 strikes among his 91 pitches.

Groover’s fastball was overpowering although he had some trouble locating it.

“I couldn’t figure out the problem until the fifth inning. It was my release point,” said Groover.

Schwarze supplied him with the only runs he would need with a booming two-run double to left in the first.

“He (losing pitcher Neil Gebhard) threw me a fastball right down the pipe,” said Schwarze.

Jamie Ebert doubled and scored on an error in the second; Michael Kramer singled home a pair of third-inning runs and Tyler Faubion’s three-run double and Schwarze’s two-run-double highlighted a seven-run fourth inning.

Besides Schwarze, Faubion and Ebert also had two hits for Texas.

Calvin Naputi and Desi Godoy singled for Guam.

U.S. CENTRAL 8, U.S. EAST 7

(Sunday Afternoon)

So. Vineland, N.J. (0-1) Urbandale, Iowa (1-0)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Ortiz, ss 3 3 1 0 Duede, cf 3 2 0

DiJamco, lf 2 1 0 0 Hoberg, 2b-3b 3 3 0

Olson, c 3 0 1 0 Stevenson, 3b 2 2 0

Elbeuf, rf-cf 3 0 0 1 Thornton, 2b 0 0

Rodriguez, cf-p 2 0 0 0 Murphy, 1b 4 2

Flores, 1b 3 1 1 1 Miles, ss-p 4 1 4

Martinez, 1b 0 1 0 0 Everett, c 3 0 0

Guadalupe, 3b 2 0 0 0 Paterno, c 1 0

Myrie, 2b 4 0 0 0 Johnson, lf 3 0 0

Vasquez, p-rf 1 0 1 1 McGrath, p 2 1

Lopez, p 0 1 0 0 Raisch, p-3b 1 0 0

a-Rivera 1 0 1 1 Gertler, rf 2 0 0

Sansalone, rf 1 0 0 0 b-Heffelfinger 0 0

Dillenburg, rf 1 0 0 0

Totals 25 7 5 4 Totals 29 8 14 7

a-singled for Lopez in second; b-sacrificed for Gertler in fifth

So. Vineland, N.J. 112 101 1 ? 7

Urbandale, Iowa 303 202 x ? 8

E?Ortiz, Vasquez; Stevenson 2, Miles, McGrath 2; LOB?U.S. East 9; U.S. Central 10; 2B?Vasquez; Miles; DP?Hoberg-Murphy; SB?DiJamco, Martinez; Miles, Johnson

So. Vineland, N.J. IP H R ER BB SO

Vasquez 0 1 3 2 1 0

Lopez (L, 0-1) 4 8 5 3 1 5

Rodriguez 2 5 0 0 2 0

Urbandale, Iowa IP H R ER BB SO

McGrath 3 1/3 4 5 0 3 3

Raisch (W, 1-0) 2 2/3 0 2 2 5 6

Miles (S, 1) 1 1 0 0 0 2

HBP?Ortiz by Raisch; WP?McGrath 2; Raisch 2; PB?Everett; T?2:25; ATT?400

SOUTHWEST 13, ASIA-PACIFIC 0

(Sunday Night)

Brenham, Tex. (1-0) Hatgana, Guam (0-1)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Faubion, lf 4 1 2 3 Naputi, 3b 3 0 0

B. Schwarze, 2b 4 1 0 0 M. Cruz, cf 1 0

Price, ss 1 4 1 0 Gebhard, p-ss 3 0 0

Crowson, c 2 1 1 0 Benavente, lf 1 0 0

J. Schwarze, 1b 2 1 2 5 Alcantara, lf 0 0

Mangan, rf 1 1 0 0 Sablan, c 1 0 0

Kankel, rf 1 0 0 0 Quinata, c 1 0 0

Kramer, cf 3 1 1 2 Arce, 1b 1 0 0

Ebert, 3b 4 2 2 1 Godoy, 1b 1 0 0

Groover, p 2 0 0 1 Delarosa, ss 1 0 0

a-Steele 0 1 0 0 Chaco, rf-p 0 0 0

Manibusan, rf-ss 1 0 0

E. Cruz, 2b-rf 1 0 0 0

Matanane, 2b-p 1 0 0 0

Totals 24 13 9 12 Totals 16 0 2 0

a- walked for Groover in 4th inning

Texas 212 71 ? 13

Guam 000 00 ? 0

E? Delarosa 2, Benavente; LOB? Texas 7, Guam 6; 2B? J. Schwarze 2, Faubion, Ebert; DP? Crowson to Evert; S? J. Schwarze; SF? J. Schwarze; SB? Faubion, Kramer, Matanane

Texas IP H R ER BB SO

Groover (W, 1-0) 5 2 0 0 4 11

Guam IP H R ER BB SO

Gebhard (L, 0-1) 2 1/3 5 5 2 2 2

Matanane 1 1/3 4 7 7 4 1

Chaco 1/3 0 0 0 0 0

Delarosa 1 0 1 1 3 1

HBP? M. Cruz by Groover; WP? Groover 2, Delarosa; PB? Sablan; T? 2:12; ATT? 1,000 (est.)