Wied’s 2-run single sparks Central

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BANGOR – As Madison, Wis., manager Mike Reuter put it after U.S. Central got its first win of the Senior League World Series on Tuesday morning, Maine fans are used to seeing teams from the Badger State come out on top, whether it be in college hockey or Senior League baseball.

“People in Maine are used to seeing the Badgers win, so we wanted to keep that going,” Reuter said with a smile after his team edged Europe-Middle East-Africa representative Brussels, Belgium, 4-3 at Mansfield Stadium.

Madison moved to 1-2 in Pool B, and Brussels slipped to 0-3.

After being blown out in their respective first games of the tourney, both Madison and Brussels lost close, tough games the second time around before battling neck-and-neck in this one.

“That’s what these guys are all about, they battle,” Reuter said. “They stuck it out and battled really hard.”

Reuter also acknowledged the efforts of the gritty Brussels team.

“They’re a very good team, no question about that,” he said. “They’re a great bunch of guys and [have] a great coaching staff.”

The winning rally came in the bottom of the fifth after two were out. Ross Elliott and Trevor Graham both singled, then Trevor Wied looped a single into left, scoring both Elliott and Graham to give Madison a 4-2 advantage.

“We’ve scored a lot of runs this year with two outs, and we got those last two with two outs,” Reuter said. “That’s kind of the way we’ve been doing things.”

Richard Conway tried to rally Brussels with an RBI single in the top of the seventh to make it a one-run game, but winning pitcher Ross Elliott struck out Harold Gerard to end the game.

Elliott went the distance, scattering three runs, all earned, on eight hits while striking out four and walking only one.

“He did a great job, it’s a great effort,” Reuter said.

Brussels jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the second on a Vincent King RBI single, but Madison responded with two runs in the bottom half.

Graham singled to lead off the inning, followed by a walk to Wied, a Tony Alex sacrifice bunt, then a Duane Mitchell strikeout. Trevor Klinkner then slammed a two-run single into right, giving Madison a 2-1 edge.

Brussels knotted it in the top of the fourth when Cedric Desmedt looped an RBI single to center.

It stayed that way until Wied’s clutch two-out hit in the fifth, after Brussels nearly took the lead in the top half.

Masa Nagashima tried to score from third on a hard ground ball to shortstop Graham, but with the infield playing in, Graham fired a strike to catcher Mitchell Dunse to cut down Nagashima.

“He’s a really fast runner. We knew right away if we weren’t up on the grass, then it wasn’t going to happen,” Reuter said.

U.S. CENTRAL 4, EMEA 3

Brussels, Belgium (0-3) Madison, Wis. (1-2)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Nagashima, cf 4 0 1 0 Zadra, cf 3 0

R. Conway, c 4 0 1 1 Marvin, lf 3 0 0

Gerard, p-rf 4 0 0 0 Schmidt, 3b 3 0 0

Steege, ss 3 1 1 0 Elliott, p 3 0 0

King, 3b 3 0 1 1 Graham, ss 3 2 0

Lyke, 2b 2 0 0 0 Wied, 1b 2 0 2

Desmedt, 1b 3 0 1 1 Scharnke, 1b-c 1 2 0

Miller, lf 2 0 1 0 Ales, rf 2 0 0

Gerard, rf 2 0 1 0 Dunse, c 1 0 0

Oppenheim, rf-2b 1 2 1 0 Pecosky, c 1 0

C. Conway, rf-p 1 0 0 0 Klinkner, 2b 1 2

Bower, 2b 1 0 0 0

Totals 29 3 8 3 Totals 24 4 9 4

Belgium 010 100 1 – 3

Wisconsin 020 020 x – 4

E-King, Oppenheim; Wied; LOB-Belgium 6, Wisconsin 6; 2B-Miller, Oppenheim; Ales; S-Ales; SB-Nagashima; Graham 2

Belgium IP H R ER BB SO

Gerard 3 6 2 2 1 3

C. Conway (L, 0-1) 3 3 2 1 2 1

Wisconsin IP H R ER BB SO

Elliott (W, 1-0) 7 8 3 3 1 4

WP-Gerard 2; Elliott; T-1:45; ATT-300