POST OAK’S LITTLE LEAGUE DREAM CUT SHORT
Post Oak’s summer of fun is over after 7-6 extra-inning loss to Georgia
SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Post Oak twice was within one out of advancing before having its Little League Baseball World Series come to a heartbreaking end Monday night with a 7-6 loss to Georgia.
The Southeast Regional champions from Peachtree City used a three-run rally in the bottom of the sixth inning that began with a fielding error, tying the game on a tworun homer by Jansen Kenty, to force extra innings.
“You have to get the last out,” Post Oak manager David Rook said.
Post Oak went back ahead in the eighth, but a throwing error as the Texans attempted to turn a difficult game-ending double play allowed Georgia to again tie the game.
Then in the bottom of the ninth, Georgia parlayed a hit batsman, fielder’s choice, wild pitch and a walkoff sacrifice fly by Ben Traxler into the winning run.
Ryan Selvaggi went 4-for-4 and Kaleb Rook pitched five strong innings for the Southwest Regional champions, who saw their tournament run end with a pair of one-run losses.
Selvaggi had a two-run homer to give the Texans a 4-0 lead in the fifth inning. He also tripled and scored three times, including the go-ahead run in the eighth on Andy Guy’s sacrifice fly.
Rook, who became the starting pitcher in a last-minute decision, held Georgia scoreless through four innings. He allowed two runs in his fifth and final inning before giving way to Ethan Goldstein, who pitched the sixth and seventh innings. Richie Klosek came on in the seventh to finish the game.
The runs given up by Rook
technically were earned, but they were the result of a popup falling between two fielders on what potentially would have been the final out.
David Rook said he warmed up five pitchers but went with his son, who had not taken the mound since the regional semifinal because of tendinitis, for which he had been receiving treatment since arriving at Williamsport.
Post Oak opened the scoring with an unearned run in the top of the second inning.
In the third, Selvaggi tripled and scored on Klosek’s single to make it 2-0.
After Selvaggi’s two-run shot gave Post Oak a fourrun lead in the top of the fifth inning, Georgia got within 4-2 on back-to-back RBI singles by Connor RiggsSoper and Wills Maginnis.
Matthew Hedrick, who went 2-for-3 for Post Oak, tripled with two outs in the top of the sixth and came around to score on a wild throw to make it 5-2.
But that lead soon evaporated with the error that opened the door for Kenty’s homer.
“It’s a wave of emotions,” David Rook said. “The good news is they got their emotions under control after that home run and battled and got the lead back.”
After Georgia twice rallied to tie the game, it took advantage of several Post Oak mistakes to score the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning.
“I was a lot more upset (Sunday) than (Monday),” the manager said of the 2-1 loss to the New York team from Staten Island. “We battled. We came to hit. We did what we expect the boys to do offensively.
“The pitching was really good. The boys who pitched today, the defense sort of let them down.”