BANGOR – For more than six innings of Tuesday’s Senior League World Series contest, coaches of the Curacao team struggled to find a pitcher who could do one fundamental thing.

Throw strikes.

That lack of control had cost the Latin America champs a 5-0 lead. It had allowed South Bend, Indiana, the Midwest champions, to take an 8-5 advantage.

And it threatened to leave Curacao – a team many observers picked as a pre-tournament contender – 0-2 in pool play and virtually out of the title picture.

Enter Curt Smith.

All Smith did was fire five shutout innings, hold South Bend at bay, and give his Curacao teammates time to figure out a way to win the game at Mansfield Stadium.

Eventually, they did: Curacao rallied for three runs in the sixth, then earned a 9-8 win on Rubinet Koko’s bases-loaded single in the bottom of the 11th.

“I had to work very hard to throw strikes,” Smith said. “I worked very hard and you see the results.”

Curacao and South Bend are both 1-1 in pool play. Curacao takes on Asia Pacific champ Manila, Philippines, at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, while South Bend takes on Spring, Texas, at 8 p.m.

Curacao cruised to a 5-0 lead after four innings before South Bend rallied with an opportunistic eight-run fifth.

The Indiana stars scored those runs – seven of them unearned – on just one base hit. Curacao helped make that possible, as three pitchers walked five batters and hit another with a pitch. Also costly: Curacao committed three errors in the inning.

“Every time, we have a bad inning,” Smith said, referring to a nearly identical eight-run seventh that cost them a win against Spring, Texas, on Monday.

Curacao ended up outhitting South Bend 15-4, but the walks and errors made the game a battle of attrition.

Curacao pecked away for two runs in the first and fourth, and tallied a single run in the third. All those runs came against starter Paul Piennette.

Piennette was removed for two batters in the seventh after giving up a booming triple to Koko. Reliever Mark Bennitt retired the final two runners, and Piennette returned in the eigthth and pitched scoreless ball until he reached his 10-inning limit.

But in the bottom of the 11th, Curacao greeted reliever John Davis rudely, loading the bases on a walk and two singles.

That set the stage for Koko’s single, a blast that cleared the head of South Bend’s right fielder by 40 feet.

“It was a new pitcher, and I’m waiting for a fastball,” Koko said. “It was a fastball outside and I [hit] it to the right field.”

CURACAO 9, SOUTH BEND, IND., 8

(11 innings)

South Bend (1-1) Curacao (1-1)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Keultres, 2b 4 1 0 0 Seferina, c 5 1 0

Davis, ss 4 1 1 0 Jurrjens, 3b-ss 3 0 2

Bennitt, 3b-ss 6 1 0 1 a-Smith, p 2 2

Piennette, p-3b-1b 4 1 1 0 Statia, ss-p 4 2

Keough, c 5 1 0 1 Asjes, 1b 5 1 0

Coffman, cf 5 1 0 1 Coster, rf 6 0 1

McDonald, 1b 3 0 0 0 Koko, cf 5 0 1

Sinkiewicz, lf-3b 1 0 0 0 Walle, cf 1 0

Jordan, rf 3 1 2 2 Fornerino, lf 2 0 0

b-Miller, rf 0 0 0 0 Reigina, lf 3 0 0

Baker, lf 4 1 0 0 Offerman, p 1 0 0

c-Obispo, p 0 0 0 0

Martis, p-3b 3 1 1 0

Schoop, 2b 3 2 1 0

Totals 39 8 4 5 Totals 43 9 15 8

a-tripled for Jurrjens in fourth, b-ran for Piennette in sixth, c-hit by pitch for Offerman in second

South Bend, Ind. 000 080 000 00 ? 8

Curacao 201 203 000 01 ? 9

E?McDonald; LOB?South Bend 10; Curacao 10; 2B?Schoop; 3B?Smith, Jurrjens, Koko; HR?Statia; DP?Keultres-Davis-McDonald; S?Seferina

South Bend IP H R ER BB SO

Piennette 9 1/3 12 8 7 4 5

Bennitt 2/3 0 0 0 0 0

Davis (L, 0-1) 0* 3 1 1 1 0

Curacao IP H R ER BB SO

Offerman 4** 1 4 1 5 5

Obispo 0*** 0 2 0 1 0

Martis 0**** 0 2 0 1 0

Statia 2***** 1 0 0 2 4

Smith (W, 1-0) 5 2 0 0 0 5

*faced four batters in the 11th; **faced four batters in the fifth; ***faced two batters in the fifth; ****faced two batters in the fifth; *****faced one batter in the seventh

HBP?Jordan by Offerman, Piennette by Statia, Coffman by Martis; Obispo, Schoop by Piennette; WP?Piennette; Statia 2; PB?Seferina; T?3:06; ATT?250 (est.)