BANGOR – Damian Csakai sees his role as leadoff batter for U.S. East champion Freehold Township, N.J., as one of instigation, of setting the stage for the sluggers beneath him in the order.

No. 2 hitter A.J. Rusbarsky sees himself with a similar role, as well as advancing Csakai along the basepaths.

Both played their roles to near-perfection at Mansfield Stadium on Sunday, leading Freehold Township to a 7-4 victory over the East Humboldt Little League of Chicago, Ill., during the opening day of Pool B play at the 2004 Senior League Baseball World Series.

Csakai reached base four times – a double, two singles and a hit by pitch – and scored three runs, while Rusbarsky hit three singles, a double and had three RBIs.

“They have great speed, good bat speed, they’re great baserunners and good fielders,” said Freehold Township manager Mike Brach. “They’re definitely a big part of the reason we are where we are.”

Freehold Township finished with 11 hits to support the complete-game effort of right-hander Jason Elo. Elo who yielded two runs in the first inning but then shut down the U.S. Central champions until Chicago scored its final runs on a two-out, two-run double by Mike Giller in the bottom of the seventh.

Elo struck out three and walked just one – the first batter he faced – while throwing 96 pitches, 67 for strikes.

“I got ahead in the count,” he said. “And I have a great defense. I let them hit the ball, and they make the plays behind me, something they’ve been doing all year.”

Freehold Township, 17-0 overall in postseason play, returns to action Monday at 8 p.m. against European champion Rotterdam, Netherlands. Chicago, which had its 15-game postseason winning streak ended, next plays Latin America representative Maracaibo, Venezuela, at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

“We’re a much better baseball team than this, but today things just didn’t work out for us,” said Chicago coach Bob Giller. “We got enough hits [nine], but they were catching them when we were hitting them hard and we weren’t catching them when they were hitting them hard. It’s just that simple.”

Freehold Township capitalized on early wildness by Chicago lefty Oscar Sanchez to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Csakai grounded a leadoff single up the middle, stole second, moved to third as Ryan Cuneo walked and Shawn Boysen was hit by a pitch, and scored on a two-out, bases-loaded walk to Korey Yngstrom.

Chicago’s Raphael Garcia walked and scored when Mike Giller ripped a one-out triple to the right-center field gap in the bottom of the first. Giller then scored on a fielder’s choice grounder by Steve Yopchick to give the U.S. Central champs a 2-1 lead.

Freehold Township regained the lead with three runs on four hits in the second. Elo hit a one-out single and Csakai beat out an infield chopper, and both runners scored when Rusbarsky doubled to deep center.

“I just wanted to help my team out and come up big,” said Rusbarsky. “We were down at the time, and I was just looking for a pitch to drive.”

Rusbarsky scored when Cuneo doubled to right to give the New Jersey champs a 4-2 edge.

Freehold Township added two more runs in the third. Jason Nardi singled and scored on Joe DiCaro’s double to left. DeCaro scored when Rusbarsky hit a two-out single to center.

The lead grew to 7-2 in the fifth, as Csakai grounded a one-out double just inside the third-base bag and scored on a sacrifice fly by Cuneo.