Post Oak’s title quest follows familiar path
SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Post Oak was hoping to follow Lufkin to the Little League Baseball World Series championship game.
Now, it will have to try to take a similar route as the team that preceded Post Oak as Texas East and Southwest Regional champion.
Mid-Island, the Mid-Atlantic Region champion from Staten Island, N.Y., used a combined three-hitter from Gregory Bruno and Chris Bedford to defeat Post Oak 2-1 before a crowd of 18,633 on Sunday at Lamade Stadium. The loss gives Post Oak a tougher path through the U.S. Division and its brackets. It need look no further than Lufkin for proof teams can recover from a World
Series loss.
Last season, Lufkin came back from dropping the winners’ bracket final to win two straight, claim the U.S. title and play in the world final. By losing one round earlier, Post Oak will need to string together wins Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday to give Texas another U.S. championship.
The first of those games is 7 p.m. Monday on ESPN2 against Southeast champion Peachtree City, Ga.
“We talked about and we will talk about the Lufkin team that lost last year, then came out of the losers’ bracket and won,” Post Oak manager David Rook said. “I think we’ve got good pitching depth. They’re going to have to just rebound and come to play (Monday).”
Post Oak also got a threehitter, from Ryan Selvaggi and Carter Pitts, but it was not enough.
“It was a great ballgame,” Mid-Island manager Joe Calabrese said. “They’ve got a great ballclub over there. This is what Little League Baseball is supposed to be about. It was a clean game; no errors in the game.”
The difference was MidIsland got a bit more out of its one scoring inning.
After Mid-Island scored twice in the bottom of the third, Post Oak got one back in the top of the fourth and had the go-ahead runs in scoring position with one out.
“I think the difference in the game was that we didn’t tack on any runs in the fourth when we had a chance and that they did,” Rook said. “The stat line is that we left six guys on base and they left two. Everything else is pretty even. They got two hits in one inning and they got the two runs in.”
Selvaggi struck out six in the first 21⁄3 innings before giving up a hit. The game changed with the next three batters.
Ninth hitter Robert Cavalieri singled up the middle and Chris Bedford followed with a single to center field.
After two wild pitches and a hit batter, Pitts relieved Selvaggi with two runners on and the game tied.
“I just think he rushed a little bit and wasn’t in quite the same pitching rhythm in the third inning,” Rook said.
Steven Martinez, the first batter Pitts faced, singled to right field for the second run.
Pitts then retired the remaining seven batters he faced to keep the game close, but Post Oak only got one run.
For Post Oak, Richie Klosek reached on an infield single and George Kugle walked to start the fourth. Klosek took third on Andy Guy’s fly out.
Matthew Hedrick doubled over the center fielder’s head, but only one run scored.
“I thought that ball was gone that he hit,” Rook said. “If there’s two outs instead of one and that ball’s hit, he’s going to score pretty easily. But, because it’s one out, he’s got to make sure that it’s not caught.”
With runners at second and third, Bruno kept the ball in the infield to get the last two outs and Post Oak never got another runner in scoring position.
Hedrick, the right fielder and sixth hitter in the order, had a strong game. In addition to his RBI double, he threw out a runner trying to advance from first to third on a single and handled tough fly balls.
“He had a great game,” Rook said. “He hit that (double) pretty good. All of his at-bats were good and he played very well defensively.”
Bruno worked 51⁄3 innings to get the win. Bedford walked the first batter he faced, then got two outs for the save.
“We had chances to win the game, but our top five guys went 1-for-(11),” Rook said. “It’s tough to win a game that way.”
Selvaggi will not be eligible to pitch again until a potential U.S. elimination bracket final Thursday. Pitts cannot pitch Monday, but could be used on the mound Tuesday if the team advances.