BANGOR – The whispers started as Jason Nardi walked to the plate in the seventh inning. The bases were loaded, there were two outs, and the U.S. East team from Freehold Township, N.J., was clinging to a 1-0 lead against South team Dade City, Fla.

Hey, isn’t that the kid who hit the grand slam?

You bet it was. Nardi had helped Freehold Township Little League with his big hit in a 12-1 victory over the U.S. Southwest team from San Antonio, Texas, on Tuesday.

He had already driven in what turned out to be the game-winning run in the sixth and Freehold was looking for more. Considering the power the U.S. East team has shown this week – Freehold has all three of the homers hit in pool play – another bomb from Nardi wouldn’t have been a surprise.

Nardi flied out to center, ending the suspense. But what he did in the sixth turned out to have a big impact. Rather than trying to blast one out he hit a line-drive single to right, scoring Shawn Boysen for the 1-0 win.

“He did the right thing there,” Freehold manager Mike Brach said. “[South pitcher Dominic Brown] was really tough to get around on so he just went with the outside pitch and found a hole there. It was just a fantastic way to go. It was a great at-bat because he found the right spot to hit it. That’s what it comes down to sometimes. It’s crazy.”

The East team have all three of the home runs hit in the World Series so far this week. A.J. Rusbarsky led all players with 10 hits, including two singles Friday and Freehold had a team batting average of .304, the lowest of the four teams that made it to the semifinals.

Nardi, who started in two of the East’s five games, batted .400 with four hits, including the grand slam and a double, and drove in seven runs.

Brach said he’ll start his son Brett Brach on the mound Saturday.

“He’s rested and he’s been great through the tournament,” Mike Brach said. “Let’s hope he’s got one more in him.”

Dutch baseball growing

Soccer is clearly the number one sport in the Netherlands.

But, slowly, baseball is gaining in popularity, according to manager Paul Roodenburg of the Rotterdam team that played in the Senior League World Series this week.

Rotterdam won the Europe-Middle East-Africa championship.

“We now have four or five baseball schools in the Netherlands. They’ve been around four years now,” said Roodenburg. “Kids go to school and then they play baseball in the afternoon. They learn faster this way.”

He said several members of the Netherlands’ national team are products of the baseball schools.

Roodenburg said the regular schools don’t offer baseball.

He said youngsters begin playing baseball at the T-ball ages (5-8) but the Little League banner isn’t a high priority.

“We could have had a better team here but we aren’t allowed to have some of the top-level players. They play on teams in the Netherlands who play against each other. That’s a problem,” said Roodenburg, who asked the teams in Rotterdam to supply him with players for the Senior League competition in Europe, which they won easily.

“There were 70 kids and we picked 14. And then two of them went on holiday,” said Roodenburg.

There have been some Dutch major leaguers like former Boston Red Sox pitcher Win Remmerswall and former New York Yankees infielder Robert Eenhorn.

He said there are players who are serious about the game and who would like to play college or professional baseball in the United States some day.

The Dutch went 0-4 at the SLWS but Roodenburg said, “We know we’re not at this level. Our level isn’t as high as you see here. But our kids have good attitudes. They came here to play baseball.”