BANGOR – Rain has been a significant part of South Vineland, N.J.’s run to the Senior League Baseball World Series.
To win the U.S. East championship, the team won a title game played over two days due to a rain-induced suspension.
After opening World Series play with a one-run loss to Urbandale, Iowa, on Sunday, South Vineland was supposed to play again Monday night, but was rained out until Tuesday morning, when the game was postponed again.
South Vineland finally got the chance to resume play Tuesday night, and took out its frustrations with an 11-3 victory over U.S. Southwest champion Brenham, Texas, in Pool B play.
“Waiting made us mad,” said South Vineland righthander Tito Guadalupe, who scattered nine hits in a complete-game pitching performance. “Everybody says the rain follows us around, and we just want to play.”
Earlier in the day, defending World Series champion Willemstad, Curacao, became the first Pool B team with two victories, rallying from a 3-0 deficit to edge Urbandale, 4-3 in eight innings.
South Vineland (1-1) broke a 3-3 tie in its game with a seven-run deluge in the top of the fourth inning against Brenham left-hander Jon Schwarze.
Eight straight batters reached base after the first out, with Sean Olson hitting a two-run single and Eddie Ortiz and Joel Elbuef each singling home one run to highlight the rally as South Vineland took a 10-3 lead.
South Vineland, limited to five hits in its 8-7 loss to Urbandale, pounded out 13 hits against Brenham.
Ortiz, batting leadoff, was the primary South Vineland weapon. He went 4-for-5 with a double, three singles, three runs scored and an RBI.
“I saw the ball really well tonight,” said Ortiz. “We were really focusing on batting before the game and taking good swings. I got a couple of fastballs and a couple of curves, and got good swings.”
Junie Flores added two singles for the winners, while Olson and Elbuef had two RBIs each.
Once South Vineland took its big lead, Guadalupe cruised. He held Brenham scoreless over the final four innings, aided by three double plays.
“Once we got the lead, I just wanted to throw strikes and keep the ball low, because I knew we would play the defense,” Guadalupe said.
Elbuef, Flores and Eric Martinez each drove in runs as South Vineland took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first.
Brenham (1-2) scored once in the bottom of the inning as Tyler Faubion drew a leadoff walk and later scored on a wild pitch.
The Texans tied the game with two runs in the third, as Colby Price doubled home Faubion and scored on a single to right by Wiley Crowson.
Price had a double and two singles to pace the Brenham attack.
In Tuesday’s first game, Curacao scored the winning run in the bottom of the eighth without hitting a ball more than 30 feet from home plate.
Bunting was the key to this ultimate display of small ball.
After a leadoff walk to Rashid Mauricio, Levi Carolus and Shairon Martis each had bunt singles to load the bases with no one out. Arielito Dos Passos fouled out to Urbandale catcher Anthony Paterno, but a wild pitch by reliever Chris Heffelfinger on the first pitch to Nate Stevenson enabled Mauricio to score the winning run.
“In these types of game bunting is a weapon you can use, and today it was a good weapon,” said Curacao manager Norval Faneyte. “We got on base with bunting. If I knew that from the beginning I would have bunted more.”
The Latin America champions rallied from a three-run deficit despite being outhit 14-6 by Urbandale.
Ryan Duede led Urbandale with three singles, while Dan Murphy doubled and singled and starting pitcher Ryan Miles and Paterno each singled twice.
Urbandale’s early lead could have been greater, but the U.S. Central champs stranded two runners in four different innings and left the bases loaded in the top of the seventh.
“We had 14 hits, and we thought they would be enough,” said Urbandale manager Mark Johnson. “We had some situations where we didn’t come through with the hits, but overall you cannot be disappointed with the effort.”
Carolus earned the win with 2 2/3 innings of shutout relief.
Duede singled in the top of the first and gave his team a 1-0 lead when he scored on a two-out single by Murphy. Duede singled home Drew McGrath in the second to extend the lead to 2-0, and Pat Hoberg singled home Paterno two innings later to give Urbandale a 3-0 cushion.
Curacao began its comeback against Miles in the bottom of the fourth, as Arthur Bonevacia doubled and scored when Mauricio was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Curt Smith singled home a run in the fifth and then scored on an infield error to pull Curacao into a 3-3 tie.
EAST 11, SOUTHWEST 3
South Vineland, N.J. (1-1) Brenham, Texas (1-2)
Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
Ortiz, ss 5 3 4 1 Faubion, 1b-p 3 2 0
DiJamco, 2b 3 1 1 0 B. Schwarze, 2b 4 0 0
Vasquez, ph 1 0 0 0 Price, ss 4 1 1
Olson, c 3 2 1 2 Crowson, c 3 0 1
Elbeuf, rf 5 1 1 2 c-Groover 0 0 0
Rodriguez, 3b 4 1 0 1 J. Schwarze, p-1b 0
Flores, 1b 3 0 2 1 Ebert, 3b 3 0 0
Martinez, cf 1 1 1 1 Kramer, cf 3 0 0
Guadalupe, p 3 1 1 0 Mangan, lf 3 0 0
a-Rivera 0 0 0 1 Steele, rf 1 0 0
Sanchez, lf 3 1 2 1 Kankel, rf 1 0 0
b-Sansalone 1 0 0 0
Totals 32 11 13 10 Totals 28 3 9 2
a-struck out for Guadalupe in 6th; fb-flied out for Sanchez in 4th; hit by pitch for Crowson in 7th
South Vineland, N.J. 300 710 0 ? 11
Brenham, Texas 102 000 0 ? 3
E?Elbeuf, Rodriguez; B. Schwarze; LOB?South Vineland 9, Brenham 8; 2B?Ortiz; Faubion, Price; DP?Ortiz-Flores, DiJamco-Flores, Rodriguez-DiJamco-Flores; S?DiJamco, Martinez; SB?Ortiz, Olson, Martinez, Guadalupe
East IP H R ER BB SO
Guadalupe (W, 1-0) 7 9 3 3 3 5
Southwest IP H R ER BB SO
J. Schwarze (L, 0-1) 3 2/3 11 10 10 3 3
Faubion 3 1/3 2 1 1 2 3
WP?Guadalupe 3; Faubion; HP? Olson by J. Schwarze, Flores by Faubion; Groover by Guadalupe; T?2:09; ATT?250
LATIN AMERICA 4, U.S. CENTRAL 3
Urbandale, Iowa (1-1) Curacao (2-0)
Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
Duede, cf 5 1 3 1 Paulina, cf 2 0 0
Hoberg, ss-p 5 0 1 1 S. Martis, cf 1 0 0
Stevenson, 3b 3 0 0 0 Dos Passos, rf 4 0
a-Everett 1 0 1 0 Rojer, rf 1 0 0
Murphy, 1b 4 0 2 1 R. Martis, rf 0 0 0
Miles, p-ss 3 0 2 0 Schoop, ss 3 0 0
b-Raisch 1 0 0 0 Smith, 3b 4 1 1
Johnson, lf 3 0 1 0 Bonevacia, 1b 3 1 0
McGrath, rf 2 1 1 0 Jansen, c 2 0 0
c-Thornton 1 0 0 0 Cijntje, lf 3 0 0
Dillenburg, rf 1 0 0 0 Mariano, lf 0 0
Gertler, 2b-p 2 0 0 0 Mauricio, 2b 1 1
Heffelfinger, 2b-p 2 0 1 0 Servania, p 1 0
Paterno, c 3 1 2 0 Carolus, p 2 0 0
Totals 36 3 14 3 Totals 27 4 6 2
a-doubled for Stevenson in 7th; grounded out for Miles in 5th; grounded out for McGrath in 6th
Urbandale, Iowa 110 100 00 ? 3
Willemstad, Curacao 000 120 01 ? 4
E?Gertler; Smith; LOB?Urbandale 11, Curacao 12; 2B?Everett, Murphy;. Bonevacia; S?Carolus; SB?Miles, Paterno; Paulina, Dos Passos, Schoop, Smith, Mauricio
Urbandale, Iowa IP H R ER BB SO
Miles 6 4 3 2 6 4
Hoberg 1 0 0 -0 2 1
Gertler (L, 0-1) 0 1 1 1 1 0
Heffelfinger 1-3 1 0 0 0 0
Curacao IP H R ER BB SO
Servania 5 1-3 11 3 3 1 6
Carolus (W, 1-0) 2 2-3 3 0 0 1 1
Gertler pitched to two batters in 8th
One out when winning run scored
HBP?Mauricio by Miles; WP?Heffelfinger; T?2:29; ATT?210 (est.)
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