When the first batter of the game, Jose Fernandez, took 51s starter Cody Martin deep, perhaps it was a sign of things to come on Tuesday night.
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Austin Colmery singled home Michael Cuatillo with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning Tuesday to give Wilmington (Delaware) a 1-0 win over Desert Oasis in the championship game of the American Legion World Series in Shelby, North Carolina.
It was the jersey Mantle wore when he homered in Games 6 and 7 at St. Louis to give him 18 for his career, a World Series record that still stands. He also homered in Game 3 at home to break a tie with Babe Ruth.
The Desert Oasis Aces advanced to the championship game of the American Legion World Series with a 6-1 victory over Gonzales (Louisiana) in Shelby, North Carolina.
Randolph County scored five runs in the fifth inning en route to a 10-6 victory over Desert Oasis in a game that featured a long rain delay and ended after 12:30 a.m. locally.
The loss completed a four-game sweep for El Paso (73-52), spoiling what would have been a comeback win for the 51s (61-65).
With just two weeks left in the regular season, nearly all of the Pacific Coast League division races are close to being wrapped up. Though no team has clinched yet, only one division race is seemingly still competitive.
The 51s finished their third straight game — this one a 4-3 loss to El Paso at Southwest University Park — without a hit with runners in scoring position.
If there was a Mount Rushmore for local baseball luminaries, one could make a case for carving Manny Guerra’s tanned face into the outcropping alongside those of Greg Maddux, Bryce Harper and Kris Bryant.
There was less angst and more innocence before youth baseball was organized and orchestrated solely by adults, when kids simply would choose up sides and play baseball on a sandlot until somebody knocked the cover off the ball or it got dark outside.
The Desert Oasis Aces dropped a 3-2 decision to Midland (Michigan) on Saturday in pool play in the American Legion World Series in Shelby, North Carolina.
Gagnon lasted just four innings and surrendered five runs in a 8-2 loss to El Paso at Southwest University Park.
When it mattered most, the 51s couldn’t come up with a hit on Thursday. The team went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position, leaving seven on base.
The Desert Oasis Aces didn’t get to Shelby until Wednesday because of flight cancellations. Then, in Thursday’s final game on the first day of action, the Aces routed Meridian (Idaho), 10-0.
Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Urena has been suspended six games and fined an undisclosed amount for intentionally hitting Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Atlanta Braves with a pitch.
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