Florida trips up Bangor U.S. Central notches first win

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BANGOR – Boynton Beach, Fla., had two things working against it during Wednesday’s Pool A contest at the Senior League World Series against the host Maine District 3 champions from Bangor.

The U.S. South champions were struggling defensively – as evidenced by five errors – and were facing a resilient Bangor team that wasn’t fazed by an early deficit.

But when Alex Bonilla scored from first base in the bottom of the eighth inning after Bangor’s lone miscue of the night, Boynton Beach had earned a hard-fought 10-9 victory – and a great escape.

“It was exciting, but we didn’t play our best,” said Bonilla. “But we won, and that’s what we came to do.”

That was the second of two afternoon games during a five-game day prompted by rain that forced postponement of two games Tuesday. U.S. Central champion New Philadelphia, Ohio, topped Vilnius, Lithuania, 9-1, in the earlier contest.

Bonilla led off the Boynton Beach eighth with an infield single, and took off for second as Johnny Durgan put down a sacrifice bunt. When Bangor threw the ball away trying to get Durgan at first, Bonilla kept running until he scored.

“It was a bunt and steal,” he said. “I got to second and saw the bunt, and no one was covering third so I kept going. Then my coach said to keep going, so I did.”

Boynton Beach is now 3-0 heading into its final game of pool play against 2-0 Canada at 9 a.m. Thursday.

Bangor dips to 1-2 after a memorable effort in which the hosts rallied from a 5-0 second-inning deficit to take a two-run lead, then rallied again with single runs in both the bottom of the fifth and sixth to force extra innings.

“The thing about this game is down the road they’ll always remember the fun they had,” said Bangor manager Ron St. Pierre. “Some of them have their heads down right now, but they had fun tonight. They have to remember they had fun, and that this is a lifetime experience.”

It was a rough night for the hosts early, as Boynton Beach batted around in the first inning and scored three runs on RBI singles by Bonilla, Durgan and Anthony Mazzacarri.

Two more runs in the second extended the margin to 5-0 before Bangor erupted for seven runs in the top of the third.

Three Boynton Beach errors contributed to the rally, and Devin Lyshon added a two-run single and Will Johnson and Joe Stanevicz added RBI hits as Bangor took a 7-5 lead.

Boynton Beach countered with four runs in the bottom of the inning to regain a 9-7 edge, with Bonilla hitting a two-run pop single to help capitalize on four walks issued by Bangor pitchers.

“I thought it was important to get those runs after they scored,” said Bonilla, “because when we get behind sometimes we get down, but when we come back we get more excited.”

Lyshon came on in relief and held Boynton Beach scoreless over the next four innings, and Bangor eventually made that effort pay off.

Jacques Larochelle led off the Bangor sixth by reaching on an error, and he hustled all the way to third on a wild pitch before scoring on a single to right by Lonnie Hackett to make it 9-8.

Bonilla then came on in relief and got his team out of a bases-loaded jam by getting Ryan Larochelle to hit into an inning-ending fielder’s choice.

Kyle Savage led off the Bangor seventh with a walk and reached third on a sacrifice and a wild pitch before scoring the tying run on a passed ball.

Bangor threatened with no out in the top of the eighth as Cody McInnis singled and reached third when Tyler Desjardins’ infield hit was thrown away.

But Alex Bonilla, who was relieved by teammate Willie Bonilla in the seventh due to pitch-count considerations, returned to the mound to retire the next three batters to leave the game tied.

“We’re disappointed,” said George Bonilla, one of the Boynton Beach coaches. “Bangor played a great game and fought hard. They played better than us, but we stayed with it and got lucky.”

In the earlier contest, the U.S. Central champions cruised to their first victory of Pool B play, motivated by the story of 2007 SLWS participant Cartersville, Ga., which similarly lost its first two games of pool play before surging to win the world championship.

“That’s a well-known fact that all of us know about,” said New Philadelphia, Ohio, manager Kevin Gray. “We need some help from some of the other teams, but who knows, crazier things have happened and we’re going to be here and battle to the end, for sure.”

Third baseman Adam Mizer had two hits and three RBIs for the winners, including a two-run double in the bottom of the third to spark a four-run rally that gave righthander Tanner Epstein a 5-0 cushion.

“I just remember my approach was just to go up, be aggressive and try and hit the ball hard,” said Mizer of his no-out double, which drove home pinch-runner Brennan Soikowski and Alex Knecht. “It was a fastball about belt high right down the middle, and I just drove it.”

Mizer also had an RBI single in the fourth against Lithuanian starter Gytis Martunas, and New Philadelphia padded its lead with three runs in the fifth, a rally sparked by Johnny Iacobucci’s one-out RBI double.

Eckstein pitched into the sixth inning for the U.S. Central champs, allowing three hits and one earned run while striking out three and walking three.

“The curveball was working good,” said Eckstein, “but I’ve got to thank Andy [Allensworth, the catcher] for calling the pitches, he did a good job.”

Lithuania scored its lone run in the sixth. Arunas Dankovskis drew a leadoff walk and advanced to third on an infield groundout and a passed ball before scoring on a single to left by Valentinas Krukis.

eclark@bangordailynews.net

990-8045

U.S. CENTRAL 9, EMEA 1

U.S. Central EMEA

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Porter, ph-rf 0 0 0 0 Vilbikas, 2b-3b 4 0

Knecht, rf-ss-2b 0 3 0 0 Dankdvskis, ss 1 0

Mizer, 3b 3 1 2 3 Bradauskas, 1b-p 3 0

Gray, 2b-p 4 0 0 0 Krukis, cf 3 0 1

Wheeler, cf 2 2 0 0 Kolduba, 3b 1 0 0

Allensworth, c 3 0 0 0 Vascila, 3b-p 1 0

Cozart, ss-p 4 1 1 1 Sereicikas, ph-p-lf 0 0

Iacobucci, 1b-rf 3 1 1 1 Deksnys, lf-3b 3 0

Eckstein, p 2 0 0 0 Martunas, p-c 3 0 0

Rentsch, 1b-p 0 0 0 0 Sarapas, c 1 0

Burcher, lf-pr 2 0 1 0 Augustinas, 2b-1b 0

Sokowoski, pr-ph 1 1 0 0 Bukauskas, rf 2 0

Ripley, lf 1 0 1 2

Totals 25 9 6 7 Totals 24 1 4 1

U.S. Central 000 001 0 – 9

EMEA 104 130 0 – 1

E-Dankdvskis, Kolduba, Vascila; LOB-U.S. Central 6; EMEA 6; 2B-Mizer, Iacobucci, Bradauskas; DP-U.S. Central 1; SB-Wheeler, Cozart, Knecht, Sokowoski, Bradauskas, Mizer

U.S. Central IP H R ER BB SO

Eckstein (W) 5 3 1 1 3 3

Rentsch 1/3 1 0 0 1 0

Cozart 1 1/3 0 0 0 0 3

Gray 1/3 0 0 0 0 0

EMEA IP H R ER BB SO

Martunas (L) 3 3 5 2 3 2

Vascila 2 3 4 2 2 0

Bradauskas 1 0 0 0 1 0

U.S. SOUTH 10, DISTRICT 3 9

U.S. South District 3

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Massey, p-3b 4 1 0 0 Hackett, cf 5 1 1

Worrall, 3b-c 4 2 1 0 McInnis, ss 5 0

W. Bonilla, 1b-p 3 2 0 0 Desjardin, p-pr-1b 0

Kelly, ss 3 2 1 2 Stanevicz, p 1 1 1

Cole, pr-lf 1 0 0 0 Patterson, 1b 1 0 0

A. Bonilla, c-p-1b 4 2 4 3 Lyshon, 1b-p 4 2

Durgan, lf-rf 5 0 3 3 R. Larochelle, 3b 0

Patti, rf 1 0 0 0 Savage, rf 3 2 0

Saldovar, lf 1 0 0 0 Johnson, 2b 3 1 1

Pistey, lf 0 0 0 0 J. Larochelle, c 4 0

Mazzacari, 2b 3 0 2 1 Farnham, lf 1 0

Faland, cf 2 1 0 0 Lewis, ph 1 0 0

Overton, ph 1 0 1 0

Totals 32 10 12 9 Totals 36 9 10 5

U.S. South 324 000 01 – 10

District 3 007 001 10 – 9

E-Mazzacari 2, Kelly, A. Bonilla, Saldovar, R. Larochelle; LOB-U.S. South 11; District 3 9; SB-Hackett; Faland

U.S. South IP H R ER BB SO

Massey 5 2/3 7 8 5 2 1

A. Bonilla (W) 2 1 1 0 2 1

W. Bonilla 1/3 2 0 0 1 0

District 3 IP H R ER BB SO

Desjardin 1 1/3 5 5 5 3 1

Stanevicz 1 1/3 0 4 4 4 0

Lyshon (L) 4 1/3 7 1 0 0 2

HBP-Patti by Desjardin; Massey by Desjardin; WP-Massey, A. Bonilla, Stanevicz; PB-Worrall; T-2:20; ATT-1000