Hamilton-NB 14s drop to 1-1 in World Series pool play

The Hamilton-Northern Burlington 14-year old all-stars experienced a little bit of everything in their second Babe Ruth League World Series game in Glen Allen, Virgina.

First, they trailed, then they had the lead and then they fell behind again, but the kids from Switlik Park didn’t quit as they pulled within two runs, but couldn’t overcome Centreville (Va.), falling 7-5 on Friday evening.

The loss drops H-NB to 1-1 in pool play and on Saturday they return to face West Linn (Ore.) (1-0), the Pacific Northwest representative. West Linn opened WS play with a convincing 13-3 win over Greenville, NC.

H-NB enjoyed a 3-1 lead after three innings, but the Virginia state champions scored three in both the fourth and fifth to go ahead 7-3.

H-NB had a great chance in the sixth when they loaded the bases with only one out.

The inning started with a Danny Perdomo single after one out David Zamora doubled him home. Mike Giambelluca followed with a single and then Nate Rodriguez singled to score Zamora to make it 7-5.

Ben Cousino came into pitch for Centreville and promptly walked Zac Brown to load the bases.

Cousino settled down and got the final two outs on called third strikes.

“We’re very proud of the boys coming back and showing a lot of heart,” said Jim Petersohn, the 14’s manager. “We can’t ask for a better opportunity. We hit the ball well and we want to take the positives from this game and move forward.”

The Middle Atlantic regional champions banged out 10 hits, with Zamora and Giambelluca each getting two. Gavin Martin continued to hit the ball well drilling a three-run homer to leftfield in the third inning.

“We’ll be fine and getting right back at it on Saturday and that is a good thing,” said Petersohn. “We have (Nick) Nemes on the mound and he always gives us a shot to win. We will go to battle with these boys any day.”

The battles just keep getting tougher and HamiltonNorthern Burlington needs to be ready for the challenge.