Nardi helps U.S. East rout Southwest

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BANGOR – The Senior League World Series’ most potent offense did it again.

It wasn’t a 16-hit attack, which is what the U.S. East team put up in a game Monday.

But seven hits, including a pinch-hit grand slam by Jason Nardi, was enough to help Freehold Township, N.J., roll to a 12-1 victory in five innings over U.S. Southwest champ Greater Helotes National Little League of San Antonio, Texas, Monday evening at Mansfield Stadium.

The win should be huge for Freehold Township, which is now 3-0 and the only undefeated team in Pool B. The East team faces Latin America representative Maracaibo, Venezuela, which beat the U.S. Central team from Chicago 5-2 Tuesday morning.

“This is a big game,” said winning pitcher Brett Brach, who pitched a two-hitter and allowed one unearned run. “We knew if we won this one we could go into Thursday’s game and be really pumped.”

San Antonio (2-1) would have advanced to the semifinals if it had won, but instead needs to beat 0-2 Chicago Wednesday at 5 p.m. in order to advance.

Freehold Township scored nine runs in a fourth inning that crept by as both teams made several lineup changes and the San Antonio team struggled in the field with two errors and four pitchers allowed four hits, issued two walks and hit a batter.

Watching from the bench, Nardi was eager to join in when he blasted a 3-1 fastball over Mansfield’s 330-foot left field fence.

“I just wanted to help my team out,” Nardi said. “Coming off the bench your nerves are still with you. I was expecting a straight up fast ball and I just unloaded on it.”

The East, which had a Series-best .390 batting average and a tourney-high 32 runs after three games, had already batted around and scored five runs when Nardi came to the plate.

The big cushion allowed Brach to relax a bit. He only had one strikeout but walked just two. The defense made 13 outs in the field, including two double plays.

“The curveball and locating the fastball kept them off balance,” he said. “They kept popping up and getting ground balls.”

Freehold Township’s Damian Csakai took advantage of a leadoff walk, stole second and eventually scored on a Shawn Boysen single in the first. Ryan Cuneo had an RBI single in the second. Brach scored in the fifth when he singled and later came home on a wild pitch.

The East wasn’t perfect – Freehold Township’s defense fell apart in the third inning with four errors. But San Antonio could only eke out one run.

“I was very disappointed that we didn’t capitalize on those like we should have,” San Antonio manager Paul Noland said. “I thought we could still keep pecking away and have a shot to get back into it. They did a good job of moving the runners to second and get a key hit to score a run on us.”

U.S. EAST 12, U.S. SOUTHWEST 1

(5 innings)

Freehold Twp., N.J. (3-0) San Antonio, Texas (2-1)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Csakai, cf 3 2 0 0 Zapata, 3b-ss 3 1 0

Rusbarsky, ss 3 2 1 1 Muhleman, lf-cf 3 0

Cuneo, 1b-3b 3 1 1 1 Cunningham, cf-p 2 0

Boysen, 2b-lf 2 1 1 1 Treiber, 1b-p 0 0

LaCava, 3b-c 2 2 1 1 Saathoff, c 2 0 0

Yngstrom, lf-rf 1 0 0 0 Ayon, c 0 0 0

Nardi, rf 2 1 1 4 Mendoza, 1b-rf 0 0 0

Hayes, rf 1 0 0 0 Hanson, rf-lf 2 0 0

DiCaro, 2b 2 1 0 0 Noland, 2b-p-ss 1 0 0

Brach, p 3 2 1 0 Martinez, p-rf 1 0 0

Hubbert, c 1 0 0 0 Navarro, 2b-1b 1 0 0

Elo, 1b 1 0 1 0 Nichols, ss 1 0 0

Coronado, 2b-3b 1 0 0 0

Totals 24 12 7 8 Totals 17 1 2 0

U.S. East 101 91 ? 12

U.S. Southwest 001 00 ? 1

E?Rusbarsky 2, LaCava, Brach; Zapata, Hanson; LOB?U.S. East 3, U.S. Southwest 4; 2B?Zapata; HR?Nardi; DP?U.S. East 2; SB?Csakai 2; Muhleman

U.S. East IP H R ER BB SO

Brach (W,1-0) 5 2 1 0 2 1

U.S. Southwest IP H R ER BB SO

Martinez (L,0-1) 3 2/3 5 8 2 3 4

Cunningham 0* 0 2 0 1 0

Noland 0** 1 1 0 0 0

Treiber 1 1/3 1 1 1 1 2

HBP?Boysen by Cunningham; Noland by Brach; WP?Cunningham, Treiber, Martinez; BK?Treiber, Martinez; T?1:48; ATT?650

*-faced two batters in the fourth

**-faced one batter in the fourth