November 06, 2024
SENIOR LEAGUE BASEBALL WORLD SER

Guy RBI triple lifts U.S. South by Saskatchewan

BANGOR – The opposition made it tight, but the U.S. South team became the final team to gain a berth the Senior League World Series semifinal round Thursday morning at Mansfield Stadium.

Chad Guy’s RBI triple in the bottom of the sixth drove in the winning run and Cody Brown earned the win in relief as Yorktown, Va., held off Regina, Saskatchewan, 4-3 in both teams’ final Pool A game.

Virginia takes a 3-1 record and the No. 2 seed into today’s 7:30 p.m. semifinal game against Pool B top seed Latin America.

Saskatchewan finishes the tournament with a 1-3 record.

“We have a limited bench but we have a good bunch of kids,” Canada manager Barry Richardson said. “We were competitive and I was real happy. Evenly matched teams.”

Virginia manager Tommy Bayse said his squad wasn’t feeling a lot of pressure coming into the game – and not when Saskatchewan tied the game with a three-run third inning.

“We knew we had to win to advance, and any time these guys have had their backs to the wall they’ve stepped it up,” Bayse said. “Today was a little closer than we wanted. Canada’s a good team and we did what we had to do to win.”

Guy’s hit made the difference after Brown worked out of a jam in the top of the sixth. Saskatchewan stranded runners at first and second.

Saskatchewan reliever Brett Barth induced two Virginia popups to start the inning, but Adam McConnell hit a chopper into shallow left-center to keep the inning alive.

Guy followed with a deep fly ball that almost got to the wall in center field, giving McConnell more than enough time to score the go-ahead run.

“It was probably a fastball,” Guy said. “I just wanted to get a big hit and get the run. I knew we weren’t going to give up any more runs with Cody on the mound. Fortunately I got it.”

Virginia scored a run in each of the first three innings. McConnell recorded an RBI on a sacrifice fly in the first, followed by a Matthew Dent RBI single in the second. Brown made it 3-0 when he scored on an error after walking, advancing on a McConnell single and moving to third on a Guy bunt.

That run tied the game after Saskatchewan rallied in the top of the inning to take a 3-2 lead on Tom Frasz’s two-run triple, followed by a Kyle Richardson RBI double.

Canada had a chance in the sixth with runners on first and second with one out, but Virginia third baseman John Bayse hauled in a foul popup and Brown induced a groundout to end the threat.

“I just knew I had to throw strikes and my defense would get to it behind me,” said Brown, who ended the game with a strikeout looking.

Virginia didn’t have any errors.

Tommy Bayse pulled starter Dent after the third inning because the pitcher had developed a blister on his middle finger. He scattered five hits, striking out three and walking one.

U.S. SOUTH 4, CANADA 3

Regina, Saskatchewan (1-3) Yorktown, Va. (3-1)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Strueby, 2b-ss 3 1 1 0 Wagner, 2b 3 0

Barth, ss-p 4 0 0 0 Brown, rf-p 2 1 0

Frasz, 3b 3 1 1 2 McConnell, ss 2 1 1

Richardson, 1b 3 0 1 1 Guy, 1b 2 0 1

Cameron, rf 3 0 0 0 Everhart, c 2 0 0

Ringlein, cf 1 0 0 0 Hornsby, c 0 1 0

Patterson, lf 2 0 0 0 Maldonado, cf 0 0

Shulko, lf-cf 2 0 0 0 Hawkins, cf 2 0

Lutz, cf 1 0 1 0 Yeo, lf 3 0 0 0

Marinos, p-2b 2 0 1 0 Bayse, 3b 2 0

Hebert, c 2 1 1 0 Dent, p-rf 3 0 1

Totals 26 3 6 3 Totals 21 4 6 3

Saskatchewan 003 000 0 – 3

Virginia 111 010 x – 4

E-Frasz, Shulko; LOB-Saskatchewan 8, Virginia 5; 2B-Richardson; Wagner; 3B-Frasz; Guy; S-Marinos; SF-McConnell; SB-Hornsby

Saskatchewan IP H R ER BB SO

Marinos 3 4 3 2 2 1

Barth (L, 0-1) 3 2 1 1 1 1

Virginia IP H R ER BB SO

Dent 4 5 3 3 1 5

Brown (W, 1-0) 3 1 0 0 2 2

HBP-Richardson by Dent; Everhart by Marinos; T-1:30; ATT-200


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