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BANGOR – Eric Hernandez hadn’t planned on pitching Thursday.
But when he got the sudden call in the first inning with unbeaten Hilo, Hawaii, already trailing host Brewer 4-0, the righthander responded with a vintage long relief performance that lifted the U.S. West champions to a 6-4 victory over the Maine District 3 representatives during the final day of pool play at the Senior League World Series.
Hernandez worked four scoreless innings, allowing three hits while striking out three and walking one for the Pool A champions, who will face 2006 SLWS winner Falcon, Venezuela, the Pool B runnerup, at 11:30 a.m. Friday in the first of two semifinals.
“Our first pitcher ran into trouble, so coach [Kaha Wong] asked me to come in,” said Hernandez. “So I just came in and threw strikes, and my defense helped me a lot.”
Pool B champion Tyler, Texas, will play Pool A runnerup Cartersville, Ga., at 2:30 p.m. in the second semifinal, with the winners to meet at 3 p.m. Saturday for the SLWS championship.
“It’s indescribable to have this chance,” said catcher Kolten Wong. “We made it the [2003] Cal Ripken World Series [final] and lost, we got embarrassed. Then my brother won in Cal Ripken last year and he’s always bragging about it so now I want to win one myself.”
The younger Wong capped off Hilo’s comeback, ripping a tie-breaking two-run homer to right field in the bottom of the fourth that gave the league that won the 2003 SLWS here at Mansfield Stadium its only lead.
That two-out blast came on a 3-0 pitch after Hernandez had drawn a leadoff walk off Brewer righthander Billy Bissell and then stole second base.
“It was a fastball right down the middle,” said Wong, who also had a bunt single and was Hilo’s lone repeat hitter. “My dad gave me the green light so I just took it and it was my pitch.”
It was Brewer – 0-4 in pool play – that had the green light early against Hilo starter Kendal Ushijima, rapping out five hits off the lefthander in building its first-inning lead.
Bissell hit the game’s first pitch to deep left-center for a double and scored on a one-out single by Eric White. After a Dylan Fitzpatrick single, Matt Helfen hit a two-run single to center to make it 3-0. Jon Thoms reached on an error, then David McNally hit an RBI double to left.
Ushijima lasted just one more batter – issuing a walk to Kyle O’Connell that loaded the bases – before Hernandez came on and retired the next two batters, setting the tone for the rest of his performance.
“His fastball has a nice tail and he’s got a looping slider that catches guys off-guard all the time,” said Kolten Wong. “That was working pretty good, so we were trying to mix it up and catch them off guard.”
Hilo drew within 4-2 in the bottom of the first on Blake Amaral’s two-run single.
The U.S. West champs tied the game in the third despite having three runners thrown out on the basepaths. Amaral walked, stole second and scored on an outfield throwing error before Jeremy Crivello singled and scored the tying run on Jared Shiroma’s triple to deep left.
“When we got the lead I thought we were going to do so good,” said Bissell, who had three multi-hit games during Brewer’s four-game SLWS run. “But they’re a good hitting team and they came back. We had a good defense, it’s just that they hit the gaps. That’s what they had to do and they did it.”
Bissell had a single to go with his double, while Helfen and Eric White each singled twice for the host team, which was making its SLWS debut.
“It was a great opportunity,” said Bissell, “a once-in-a-lifetime thing just to get here. It was a blast playing these other teams and other countries. It was a lot of fun.”
U.S. WEST 6, ME. DISTRICT 3 4
(Pool A)
Brewer Hilo, Hawaii
ab r h bi ab r h bi
Bissell p 4 1 2 0 Yosuhra ss 3 1 0
Daniels cf 4 0 1 0 Pilayo 3b 4 1 0
White ss 4 1 2 1 Wong 2b 2 1 2 2
Fitzptrk rf 4 1 1 0 Amaral 1b 2 1 2
Helfen, 1b 4 0 2 2 Crivello cf 3 1 0
Thoms, c 2 0 0 0 Shiroma lf 2 0 1
McNally 3b 3 0 1 1 Kihara rf 1 0 0
O’Cnnell 2b 1 0 0 0 Aoki c 2 0 0 0
Jos.Perry lf 2 0 0 0 Raguel 1b 1 0 0
Cox ph 0 0 0 0 Otis rf 1 0 0 0
JoePerry pr 0 1 0 0 Fknaga 3b 1 0 0
Ushijima p 0 0 0 0
Hrnandz p 2 1 1 0
Totals 28 4 9 4 Totals 24 6 7 5
Maine Dist. 3 400 000 0 – 4
U.S. West 202 200 x – 6
E-McNally, Daniels; Yosuhara; DP-Maine District 3 1, U.S. West 2; LOB-Maine District 3 7, U.S. West 5; 2B-Bissell, McNally; 3B-Shirona; HR-Wong; SB-Josh Perry; Yosuhara, Hernandez
Maine Dist. 3 IP H R ER BB SO
Bissell (L, 0-1) 4 7 6 6 5 2
White 2 0 0 0 0 2
U.S. West
Ushijima 2/3 5 4 4 1 0
Hrnandz (W, 1-0) 4 3 0 0 1 3
Fukunaga (S, 1) 2 1/3 1 0 0 2 3
HBP-Otis (by Bissell).
T-1:45; A-800 (est.).
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