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BANGOR – They had waited all their lives for this opportunity, so a few more hours didn’t matter for the Freehold Township Senior League All-Stars.
And now they are the best collection of 15- and 16-year-old baseball players in the world.
After enduring a seven-hour, 37-minute rain delay, Freehold Township used a pair of five-run rallies and the five-hit pitching of right-hander Brett Brach to defeat the El Rio Senior All-Stars of Oxnard, Calif., 10-1, Saturday night in the championship game of the 2004 Senior League World Series at Mansfield Stadium.
“Our dream was to be world champions, but I never thought that we would ever be here,” said Brach, who went 2-0 n three SLWS appearances and 9-0 throughout Freehold Township’s 22-game run to the title. “Once we made it here, we knew we had to win and we did.
“It’s just an unbelieveable feeling to win and be called world champs.”
Brach shook off early wildness to retire 10 of the last 11 batters he faced. He finished with five strikeouts, two walks and two hit batters in a 103-pitch effort.
While this victory showcased Brach’s pitching resiliency, it also represented Freehold Township at its most complete.
Offensively, they pounded out nine hits against three El Rio pitchers. Mike LaCava had a triple and a single, while Marc Hubbert and Shawn Boysen each singled twice and Damian Csakai and Korey Yngstrom each had two RBIs.
“Our pitchers’ arms were a little tired, and that’s what happens in these tournaments,” said El Rio manager Pancho Tinoco. “We couldn’t throw too many breaking balls for strikes, and they’re going to sit on fastballs. Any good team is going to hit a fastball.”
Defensively, Freehold Township played flawlessly, as shortstop A.J. Rusbarsky keyed two double plays and catcher Marc Hubbert kept El Rio’s running game in check, throwing out the Californians’ only would-be base stealer.
“Everybody came out here looking strong, the pitching, the hitting and the defense,” said Rusbarsky.
The championship game was scheduled to start at 1 p.m., but steady and sometimes heavy rain that began before dawn and continued throughout the day left some doubt that the game would even be played. Had it not, the two finalists would have been declared co-champions, because the teams were scheduled to leave Bangor early Sunday morning to catch their flights home.
But shortly after 7 p.m., the clouds began giving way to a red evening sky and the tarpaulin was removed from the field. By 8:37, a stunningly dry field was ready for play.
For both teams, determining the champion on the field was the desired result, particularly so, as it turned out, for Freehold Township, which finished its championship run with a 5-1 World Series record, 21-1 overall.
“I’ve got to be honest with you, I thought we could do this,” said Freehold Township manager Mike Brach, Brett Brach’s father. “I told the high school coach at our school that we had a chance to win a world championship back in March. I really felt that we did, and that’s the God’s honest truth.
“But I still can’t believe it right now. I just knew if we could get through those first couple of rounds and do what we had to do we could get hot, and we did. But I still don’t believe it. It’s the greatest feeling I’ve ever had in my life in sports. It’s just fantastic.”
Yet it didn’t come easily, at least early in the championship game.
El Rio, 4-2 in the SLWS and 16-3 overall, threatened to score from the opening pitch. But the U.S. West champs couldn’t capitalize on a walk, a Jacob Regalado single and a hit batter, as Boysen and Rusbarsky combined to turn a 4-6-3 double play and Hubbert then threw out Regalado trying to steal third to end the first inning.
“We grounded in a double play on a 2-0 pitch,” said Tinoco. “And the whole time we’ve been playing I’ve given the kids the green light [to steal bases]. [Regalado] read curveball, but the curveball was high. If the ball’s low or in the dirt, he would have been safe, but it was high and the catcher made the play.”
El Rio put runners on first and second with one out in the second, but it was another opportunity lost as Brach struck out Ray Espinoza and got Geoff Ostrove to ground into an inning-ending fielder’s choice.
Freehold Township didn’t squander its first threat, sending 10 batters to the plate in the bottom of the second to score five runs on four hits and the first of three El Rio errors. LaCava had an RBI triple to highlight the uprising, while Csakai added an RBI double.
“We knew they would come out swinging,” said El Rio shortstop Eric Navarro. “That’s how they win ballgames, swinging the bat.”
El Rio scored its only run in the fourth on an RBI double by David Escobar, but Freehold Township sent 11 batters to the plate to score five runs to take its 10-1 lead. Yngstrom had an RBI triple and Hubbert and Boysen each singled home a run during the rally.
U.S. EAST 10, U.S. WEST 1
(Senior League World Series championship)
El Rio, Calif. (4-2) Freehold Twp., N.J. (5-1)
Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
E. Navarro ss-p 2 0 0 0 Csakai cf 4 2
Larios 2b-1b 2 0 0 0 Rusbarsky ss 3 0 0
Regalado 1b-cf 3 0 1 0 Cuneo 1b-3b 2 0
Hotchkiss cf-p 2 0 0 0 Boysen 2b-lf 4 1
Segovia p-3b 2 1 1 0 LaCava 3b-c 4 1 1
Barroso rf 1 0 0 0 Nardi rf 1 0 0
A. Navarro rf 1 0 0 0 Hayes rf 1 0
Oropeza lf 1 0 1 0 Yngstrom lf 2 2 2
Escobar lf-ss 2 0 2 1 DiCaro 2b 1 0
Espinoza c 3 0 0 0 Brach p 2 1 0 0
Ostrove 3b-2b 2 0 0 0 Hubbert c 3 1
Ramirez 3b 1 0 0 0 Elo 1b 0 0 0 0
Totals 22 1 5 1 Totals 27 10 9 7
U.S. West 000 100 0 ? 1
U.S. East 050 050 x ? 10
E?Oropeza, Espinoza, Ostrove; LOB?West 5, East 8; 2B?Escobar; Csakai; 3B?LaCava, Yngstrom; DP?East 2; S?A. Navarro; Brach; SB?Csakai, Rusbarsky, Brach
U.S. West IP H R ER BB SO
Segovia (L, 1-1) 1 2/3 4 5 5 2 1
Hotchkiss 3 5 5 4 5 2
E. Navarro 1 1/3 0 0 0 0 1
U.S. East IP H R ER BB SO
Brach (W, 2-0) 7 5 1 1 2 5
HBP?Hotchkiss (by Brach), Segovia (by Brach), Brach (by Hotchkiss); WP?Segovia, Hotchkiss 2; PB?Espinoza; T?1:57; ATT?800
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