Hudleson’s 11th-inning double caps Blue Sox rally
S. Nevada unbeaten in Legion regional
David Hudleson capped a late surge with a run-scoring double in the 11th inning as the Southern Nevada Blue Sox won their third straight game in the American Legion Western Regional, beating St. George (Utah) 7-6 on Friday night.
The Blue Sox, unbeaten in the tournament at Metro State University in Denver, twice rallied from threerun deficits and forced extra innings on Jerry Smith’s one-out RBI single in the ninth.
They also scored two in the eighth when John Howard Bobo walked with the bases loaded and Roger Riley’s groundout scored another run.
Garrett Giles, who scored three runs, started the 11th with a single and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Smith.
Then Hudleson roped one down the right-field line, scoring Giles and putting the Blue Sox within two victories from advancing to the American Legion World Series in Shelby, North Carolina, which begins Thursday.
Giles, Smith, Riley and Jesse Fonteboa each had two hits for the Blue Sox. Hudleson had three.
Nicholas Thompson was the winning pitcher with two innings of scoreless relief.
Starter Shane Spencer worked nine innings, allowing all six runs, five earned. He was touched for three in the first. Overall, he allowed nine hits, fanned seven and walked one
The Blue Sox displayed explosive offense in the first two games of the tournament. They started with a 30-5 whomping of Grand Junction (Colorado) Wednesday and then beat Chino (California) 9-1 on Thursday.
The Blue Sox on Friday started out poorly, making two errors in the first when St. George scored three times. The inning included a two-run home run by Alec Flemetakis, who had three hits for St. George.
The Blue Sox are scheduled to play League City (Texas) at 6 p.m. on Saturday. League City (2-1) won its game Friday over Tucson (Arizona) 11-9. The winner advances to the championship round Sunday.
Contact Justin Emerson at jemerson@ reviewjournal.com or (702) 387-2944. Follow @J15emerson on Twitter.