After staying quiet for five innings, the bats finally came alive for the Danville (Calif.) Hoots at the Capitol Classic on Thursday afternoon.
Danville connected for five consecutive base hits in the top of the eighth inning, good enough to bring three runs home and earn a pivotal 6-3 victory against Taylorsville (Utah) at Carson High School.
By winning, the Hoots improved their tournament record to 3-1 and set the stage for a showdown against the Carson Capitols tonight for first-place in the Red Division. Taylorsville's record dropped to 2-2.
The bottom half of the order got the ball rolling for Danville in the eighth as Chris Grossman, John Engers, Tim Gilhooly, Brian Groman and Kevin Flaherty opened the inning with successive singles to break up the 3-3 tie.
Luke Cherry, the game's MVP recipient, hit 3-for-4 with three RBIs including a two-run homer in the first inning for Danville.
Mateo Miramontes pitched 2-2/3 innings to close out the game and earn the win for Danville. The only run he allowed came in the seventh, when Andy Swanson walked and scored the tying run on Justin Dekorver's sacrifice fly.
INDIANA 8, PARMA 6
Reggie Nevels, the No. 9 hitter in Indiana's lineup, slugged a two-out grand-slam to break a 3-3 tie and put the Bulls from Carmel on track to an important win.
Indiana, now 3-1 in the tournament, needs to win its 11 a.m. contest today against St. Louis (Mo.) to get a shot at Central Valley for first-place in the Grey Division on Saturday. Parma is now 2-2 in the tournament.
Nevels, the game MVP, also singled and scored on Brett Garraro's three-run homer in the third inning.
Steve Conter and Nate Moore both went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles for Parma.
Chris Bass pitched four innings to pick up the win for Indiana and Grady Hinchman threw three scoreless innings to close out the game and earn the save.
CENTRAL VALLEY 11, ST. LOUIS 1
Jeremy Janz became a back-to-back game MVP winner as the right fielder hit 4-for-4 with four RBIs for the undefeated Central Valley (Fresno, Calif.) All-Stars.
Janz delivered RBI doubles in the first and second innings to help stake the All-Stars to an early 5-0 lead.
That was all the support Mike Paustian needed, as he limited St. Louis to three hits over six innings.
AUSTIN 8, HAWAII 2
The Austin (Texas) Slam Sox (2-2) scored three runs in the fourth inning then added five more runs in the fifth to take command against the Hawaiian all-stars from Honolulu.
Trailing 1-0, Joey Zigal belted a run-scoring triple to put the Slam Sox on top 2-1.
Alex Hager allowed two runs on five hits over six innings to earn the win and the game MVP award.
CHERRY CREEK 8, SANTA ROSA 2
Brook Roman hit 3-for-4 with a double, triple and four RBIs to pace Cherry Creek (Colo.) past Santa Rosa.
Roman doubled two runs home and then scored himself on an error to give Cherry Creek (2-2) a 4-0 lead in the second inning.
Bryan King pitched two-hit ball and allowed one run over five innings to pick up the win.
