A pair of high-powered pitching matchups highlighted the first day of the Area Code Games at Blair Field in Long Beach, Calif., with Team USA 18U teammates
Henry Owens and Derek “Bubba” Starling both leading their teams to victory Thursday.
Owens, from
Edison (Huntington Beach, Calif.), pitched for the Milwaukee Brewers Blue team and shined in his two innings of work with six strikeouts and a walk among the seven batters he faced. The Brewers Blue went on to defeat the Texas Rangers 6-2 in the first game of the event. He faced two-time All-District MVP Toller Boardman of Bellaire, Texas, who went the first two innings for the Rangers and did not allow a run.
Starling, of
Gardner-Edgerton (Gardner, Kan.), went two innings and gave up one run on one hit with two strikeouts and also had an RBI double in the first inning to lead the Chicago White Sox to a 6-3 victory over the Washington Nationals in the late game Thursday. He faced Washington's Dylan Davis, an all-state standout from Redmond, Wash., who gave up two runs in his only inning of work.
Games continue today at Blair Field starting at 8:30 a.m. with the Nationals vs. the Oakland Athletics followed by the New York Yankees vs. Texas Rangers at 12 p.m. and Cincinnati Reds vs. Milwaukee Brewers White at 3 p.m.
Brewers Blue 6, Rangers 2
Scoring - The Brewers scored five runs in the fifth inning to score all the runs they needed to defeat the Rangers. Milwaukee sent nine batters to the plate in the inning with Trent Boras and Jacob Anderson getting the rally going with back-to-back walks. Christian Lopes rapped his second single of the game to plate Boras and Anderson scored when the Rangers failed to force Lopes at second on a grounder by Kenny Mathews.
Lopes scored on Travis Harrison’s base hit to left field and Mathews came home on a wild pitch. Harrison scored the final run of the inning on Daniel Camarena’s ground out to second base.
The Rangers countered with a run in the bottom of the fifth when Elliot Richoux tripled to left-centerfield and scored on a wild pitch. The Rangers added another run in the seventh when Collin Shaw reached base on catcher’s interference and scored on Hunter Copycinski’s double to left.
The Brewers Blue added the final run in the eighth. Kyle Raubinger walked, went to third on an error and scored on Brandon Martin’s groundout to third base.
Top Pitcher – Owens had the best outing for the Brewers, going two innings with no runs on no hits and six strikeouts. For the Rangers, starter Toller Boardman went the first two innings and did not allow on two hits with no walks and no strikeouts.
Top Hitter – Lopes and Harrison both went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Best Hit – Richoux’s triple to lead off the fifth was one of only two extra basehits in the game.
Best Defensive Play – Milwaukee’s Phillip Evans made a diving over-the-shoulder catch to rob Shaw of a basehit in the third inning.
White Sox 6, Nationals 3
Scoring: The White Sox never trailed after scoring two runs in the first inning when Starling doubled and came home on an error. Chicago also scored a run in the fourth inning on back-to-back triples by Dylan Delso and Johnny Eierman. Jerrick Suiter scored in the sixth when he walked and scored on an error. The White Sox scored their final two runs in the seventh when Drake Roberts doubled home Connor Knight, who had walked, and then scored on a passed ball.
The Nationals scored single runs in the second, fourth and eighth innings. Michael Conforto singled and scored on a wild pitch in the second frame while Tyler Gonzales singled and scored on Trevor Mitsui’s triple in the fourth. Cameron Neal scored the final run in the eighth when he doubled and came home on Gonzales’ grounder to the right side.
Top Pitcher – Kevin Moriarity pitched the final two innings for the Nationals and pitched two perfect innings with four strikeouts, including three in a row in the eighth. For the White Sox, Nicholas Burdi went three innings and gave up one run on four hits with six strikeouts.
Top Hitter – No batter had more than one hit, however the White Sox’s Charles Tilson made the most of his at-bats, going 1-for-2 with a walk, a single, a run and three stolen bases.
Best Hit – Take your pick, Delso, Eierman and Mitsui each had a triple with Eierman and Mitsui each driving in a run.
Best Defensive Play – Drake Roberts of the White Sox tested the limits of his 5-foot-8 frame by leaping high to snag a line drive by Washington’s Erik Forgione.
