kjacobsen@observer-reporter.com
Once Long Beach, Calif., qualified for the Pony World Series, manager Ken Jakemer knew his team was in a good position.
It had just emerged from the West Zone without its best starting pitcher, Chase DeJong. In his first game back Sunday, DeJong threw a complete game with 10 strikeouts in a 5-1 win.
The rest of the pitching staff seemed to take that performance as a challenge that they could fare just as well as DeJong.
Long Beach pitchers held Hagerstown, Md., to three hits and one run through the first six innings and advanced to within one win of the Pony World Series championship game with a 10-4 victory Tuesday at Lew Hays Pony Field. That was against a team that scored 16 runs in its opener.
"Every pitcher has a competitive nature and wants to one-up each other," said Jakemer. "We've got guys who can up the bar."
The West Zone champion plays the winner of Tamiami-Hagerstown Thursday at 8 p.m. If Long Beach wins, it advances to the championship game Saturday.
Hagerstown plays Tamiami tonight at 8 p.m. The loser is eliminated.
Seven of Long Beach's runs were unearned as Hagerstown committed six errors.
"It was like first-game jitters," said Hagerstown manager Steve Berger. "We couldn't catch flyballs, we couldn't catch groundballs."
"They made a lot of mistakes and we took advantage," Jakemer added.
Long Beach starter Ty Provencher cruised through the first three innings before running into trouble in the fourth inning, but Oliver Van Buskirk bailed his teammate out of trouble.
With Long Beach leading 5-0, Jake Bachtell doubled. Aaron Dinterman struck out on a pitch in the dirt, but catcher Jake Hardy threw to third to try to nail Bachtell, who attempted to advance. Hardy's throw was in the dirt and Bachtell was safe.
Home plate umpire John Day initially ruled Dinterman out but after consulting with first base umpire Tim Walter, Dinterman was deemed safe at first base.
Austin Yost's RBI-single got Hagerstown on the board, and Provencher was lifted after walking Zach Schrieber to load the bases. Van Buskirk promptly set down the threat by striking out Luke Toms and Brock Heiston.
In the top of the fifth, Long Beach struck for three unearned runs to put the game out of reach.
"Without a doubt that deflated us," said Berger.
Leadoff hitter Brett Harper sparked the Long Beach offense. He was 3-for-5 with five runs scored and two RBI, including a solo home run in the second inning.
"Can't beat that," Jakemer said. "One of the keys was to get hits from our top-four batters."
An RBI-groundout by Thomas Walker and a wild pitch in the first gave Long Beach a 2-0 lead, and DeJong and Walker had RBI-singles in the fourth. Two unearned runs in the seventh capped Long Beach's scoring and Hagerstown scored three times without a hit in the seventh.