BANGOR – Saturday’s Senior League World Series championship game will have a true international flavor as Latin American champion Curacao will meet United States South region champ Boynton Beach, Fla.

Curacao defeated West champ San Pedro, Calif., 8-2 to extend its winning streak to four games after dropping its series opener, while Boynton Beach rallied from a seven-run deficit to post an improbable 14-11 victory over Southwest champ Spring, Texas, on another sun-scorched, toasty afternoon at Mansfield Stadium.

Both teams are now 4-1 and will meet for the world title at 1 p.m. Saturday.

In the first game, Curacao loosened up a tight game in the fifth with three unearned runs on two hits to take a 4-1 lead.

“It was a matter of giving them confidence and telling them they can do the job,” said Curacao manager Norval Faneyte after his error-prone team turned defense into a strength Friday. “Just be relaxed. That’s all we did, and it gave us some results.”

After San Pedro got a run back in the fifth, the island nation team broke things open by scoring three more in the sixth. All three came with two outs as Jair Jurrjens belted a two-run double to right center, stole third, and then scored on a passed ball.

Jurrjens was starting in place of injured standout shortstop Hainley Statia, who bruised his ankle in pregame batting drills and had to be taken to the hospital for x-rays.

“I was expecting the fastball. It was outside and high and I put the back in the right place,” said Jurrjens.

Statia returned after determining nothing was broken, and even entered the game to deliver a pinch-hit single.

As much a team effort as it was for Curacao, starting pitcher Eugene Offerman delivered the key effort – just four days after having to be lifted from the team’s opening game, in which he was charged for a loss in a disappointing outing.

“I think the difference was I concentrated more on pitching strikes and not pitching strikeouts,” Offerman said. “I have a very good defense. We didn’t show it in this tournament, but they are very good with the glove, so I went up to throw strikes.”

Offerman threw 70 of his 103 pitches for strikes, to be exact as he pitched seven inning of five-hit ball while walking just one batter, struck out four, and allowed one earned run.

“My fastball worked good with speed and location and these last innings, I went a little bit to the curveball,” he said. “I had really good control.”

Flannery Gosta had two singles and an RBI to lead Curacao’s offense as the team finds itself in uncharted championship waters.

In the second game, Boynton Beach sent 16 batters to the plate and came away with 11 runs to turn a 9-3 deficit into a comfortable five-run lead with six outs standing between a first-ever trip to a World Series final.

The rally fed off five key hits, six walks, two hit batters and a Spring error as Spring was forced to make two pitching changes.

“Obviously we got something bad going in that inning and we couldn’t get the brakes on it,” said Spring coach Rick Harris.

Boynton Beach manager Danny Wilson said it just seems to be the way his team does things. He doesn’t know how else to describe it.

“We had a nine-run inning against Canada that pulled us out of the fire,” he said. “I told the guys when we were down 7-0 in the second inning to look at the scoreboard and asked how many times we’d been here in big games, and every time we’ve mounted a comeback.

“It’s not a good thing for me because I’m about to have a heart attack, but it’s the way we do it.”

Third baseman Dolan Owens sparked the rally with a two-run double down the left-field line and also distinguished himself on the mound with 5 1/3 innings of five-hit relief in which he allowed four runs, one of which was earned.

“My relatives all say the same thing,” Owens said with a smile. “They say we’re making it tough on them. I guess we’re keeping Pepto and Tums in business.”

Luis Maldonado led Boynton’s offense with a double, a single, and three RBIs while Jordan Meaney came into the game to go 2-for-2 with two RBIs.

Brandon Meleski led Spring with three singles.

CURACAO 8, SAN PEDRO, CALIF. 2

Curacao (4-1) San Pedro (3-2)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Seferina, c 2 2 0 0 Garcia, 2b 4 0 0

Jurrjens, ss 4 1 1 2 Lebetsamer, lf 4 0 1

Smith, 3b 2 0 1 0 Sindricich, cf 3 0 0

a-Statia 1 0 1 0 b-Lomonaco 1 0 0

Asjes, 1b 3 0 1 0 c-Whitt, cf 0 1 0

d-Obispo 0 0 0 0 Stephenson, p-3b 3 0

e-Martis, rf 1 1 0 0 Taylor, 3b-1b-p 3 0 0

Goster, rf 3 0 2 1 Harper, rf 3 0 0

Koko, cf 2 1 0 0 Solis, rf 0 0 0

f-Walle 1 0 0 0 Dorado, ss 3 1 0

Reigina, lf 3 1 1 0 Accetta, 1b 3 0 0

g-Fornerino 1 0 0 0 Luna, p-1b 0 0 0

Offerman, p 3 0 0 0 Luera, c 1 0 0

Shoop, 2b 2 2 0 0 Cuneo, c 1 0 0

Totals 28 8 7 3 Totals 29 2 5 1

a-singled for Smith in fifth; b-ran for Sindricich in first, grounded into double play for Luera in fifth; c-ran for Taylor in second; d-ran for Asjes in second, bunted for Offerman in sixth; e-ran for Asjes in third and fifth; f-grounded out for Koko in fourth; g-struck out for Reigina in fourth

Curacao 001 033 1 ? 8

San Pedro 010 010 0 ? 2

E? Jurrjens, Smith, Shoop; Garcia, Stephenson, Harper, Dorado, Accetta 2; LOB? Curacao 9; San Pedro 6; 2B? Jurrjens; Sindricich; DP? Shoop-Jurrjens-Asjes; S? Seferina, Jurrjens Obispo

Curacao IP H R ER BB SO

Offerman (W, 1-1) 7 5 2 1 1 4

San Pedro IP H R ER BB SO

Stephenson (L, 1-1) 5 5 4 0 1 5

Luna 2/3 2 3 2 2 0

Taylor 1 1/3 0 1 1 2 1

HBP? Asjes by Taylor, Koko by Taylor); WP? Taylor, Stephenson; PB? Luera; T? 2:26; ATT? 336

BOYNTON BEACH, FLA. 14, SPRING, TEXAS 11

Boynton Beach (4-1) Spring (3-2)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Orr, c 2 2 0 0 Meleski, ss-2b-p 4 0

Griffiths, cf-rf 4 2 1 2 Bonetti, 3b-1b 4 1

Owens, 3b-p 2 1 1 2 Brax.Watson,1b-p 4 2

Vento, p-3b 2 1 0 0 Gaines, c 3 2 1

Maldonado, 1b 5 2 2 3 Wiley, cf 4 2

Howard, ss 2 2 1 1 Harughty, p-ss 2 1 2

Arena, 2b 3 2 2 1 a-Fessas 1 0 0

Souza, lf 1 0 0 0 Mendel, rf 3 1 0

Meaney, lf 2 1 2 2 b-Smith 1 0 0 0

Herring, lf 0 1 0 0 Kiger, 2b 1 1 1

c-Wright, rf-cf 3 0 0 1 d-Bran.Watson, p 0

e-Wilson 0 0 0 0 Gonzales, 2b-3b 0 0 0

Watkins, lf 1 1 0 0

Totals 26 14 9 13 Totals 30 11 12 9

a-ran for Harughty in second, flied out for Watkins in sixth; b-struck out for Mendel in sixth; c-ran for Wilson in sixth; d-struck out for Kiger in fifth; e-walked for Wright in sixth

Boynton Beach 000 21(11) 0 ? 14

Spring 250 020 2 ? 11

E? Howard, Arena; Bonetti, Brax. Watson 2; LOB? Boynton Beach 6; Spring 3; 2B? Griffiths, Owens, Maldonado; Harughty; DP? Meleski-Kiger-Watson; Arena-Howard-Maldonado; S? Owens; SF? Orr; SB? Gaines 3, Harughty, Wiley

Boynton Beach IP H R ER BB SO

Vento 1 2/3 7 7 7 2 1

Owens (W, 1-0) 5 1/3 5 4 3 2 5

Spring IP H R ER BB SO

Harughty 5 7 7 5 4 4

Brax.Watson (L, 1-1) 1/3 2 7 5 4 1

Melseski 2/3 0 0 0 2 1

Bran.Watson 1 0 0 0 0 0

HBP? Arena by Harughty, Vento by Brax. Watson; Gaines by Vento; WP? Harughty; Vento; T? 2:27; ATT? 287