World Series JournalWorld Series JournalAmerican Legion Baseballsince 1926 17aug2013

87th annual

Wilmington, N.C., blanks Connecticut

Napoleon, Ohio 09:30 AM Minnesota (37-10)

Burnsville, Minn. 45:00 PM

Waipahu, Hawaii 45:00 PM New Jersey (43-8)

Brooklawn, N.J. 5

Petaluma, Calif. 51:00 PM Louisiana (47-4)

Gonzales, La. 88:30 PM

Branford, Conn. 08:30 PM North Carolina (35-2)

Wilmington, N.C. 5

California (32-14)1:00 PM

Connecticut (36-3)

Ohio (46-20)9:30 AM

Hawaii (23-5)

Carl HennellWSJ Editor

SHELBY, N.C.—Wilmington, N.C., pitcher Joe O’Donnell used a high-80 mph sinking fastball and a changeup to dominate Branford, Conn., into 18 ground balls and four strikeouts while al-lowing just three hits and a walk to help lead the Tar Heel State representative to a 5-0 victory Friday night in the open-ing round of the 2013 American Legion Baseball World Series in Keeter Stadium. North Carolina (35-2) advances to play Louisiana (47-4) Saturday night at 8:30 p.m. Connecticut (32-3) faces California (32-14) at 1 p.m. in loser-out action. Catcher Chance Shepard went 3-for-3 with a double, stolen base and 2 RBIs, right fielder Collin Thacker had two RBI sacrifice flies, and shortstop Steven Linkous had a double, 3 stolen bases and

scored 3 runs to help lead the Wilming-ton offense. Ahead just 2-0 in the seventh inning, Wilmington scored 3 runs—with the aid of two Connecticute errors—to take command and O’Donnell coasted. No Connecticut base runner got past first base after the second inning. “Every game he’s pitched this year has been that way,” Shepard said. “But he didn’t throw any curveballs, which is his best pitch, because his arm was hurt-ing.” Connecticut first baseman Greg Zullo had 2 of Connecticut’s 3 hits. Con-necticut starting pitcher Ben Criscuolo

allowed 7 hits and 3 walks over 6 innings while striking out 7.

Wilmington, NC 5, Branford, CT 0Branford, CT AB R H BIMike Funaro 2b 3 0 0 0Tyler Criscuolo 3b/lf 4 0 0 0Kyle Hart cf 4 0 0 0Nicholas Perrelli rf 4 0 0 0Ben Criscuolo p/1b 4 0 0 0Greg Zullo 1b/3b 3 0 2 0Tyler Forgione ss 3 0 0 0Alexander Pantani c 3 0 1 0Chris Stankiewicz lf 2 0 0 0 Michael Schettino p 1 0 0 0Totals...... 31 0 3 0Wilmington, NC AB R H BIChristian Wolfe cf 3 0 0 0Steven Linkous ss 4 3 1 0Chance Shepard c 3 1 3 2Shane Shepard 3b 2 1 0 0Collin Thacker rf 2 0 1 2Jack Faircloth 2b 4 0 1 0Kenny Lanier lf 4 0 1 0Colin Dolan 1b 4 0 0 0Tyler Kosh dh 3 0 0 0 Trey Croom dh 1 0 0 0Joe O’Donnell p 0 0 0 0Totals...... 30 5 7 4

Branford, CT........ 000 000 000 - 0 3 3Wilmington, NC...... 001 010 30X - 5 7 1

E - Funaro,M; Criscuolo,T; Forgione,T; Dolan,C. DP - NC 1. LOB - CT 5; NC 9. 2B -Linkous,S; Shepard,C. SF - Thacker,C 2. SB - Linkous,S 3; Shepard,C. CS - Wolfe,C.

Branford, CT IP H R ER BB SOBen Criscuolo L,0-1 6.0 7 5 2 5 7Michael Schettino 2.0 0 0 0 1 2Wilmington, NC IP H R ER BB SOJoe O’Donnell W,1-0 9.0 3 0 0 1 4WP - Schettino, M; O’Donnell,J. BK - Criscuolo, B..Umpires - HP: Phil Schlosser 1B: Mark Mayle 2B: Randy Sutton 3B: Terry Myers

Start: 8:30 pm Time: 2:15 Attendance: 6676

Victorian Rose photo

Parachuter Steve vaughn carries the first pitch and the American flag into the opening ceremonies of the 2013 American Legion Baseball World Series Friday, Aug. 16, 2013, in Shelby, N.C.

17Aug2013Page 2 World Series Journal

Minnesota shuts out OhioCarl Hennell

WSJ Editor

SHELBY, N.C.—If the opening game of the 2013 American Legion Baseball World Se-ries is any indication of the rest of the series, it’s going to be a good one. Minnesota starting pitcher Tyler Hanson spread six hits and four walks over seven in-nings, his defense played errorless ball—the first time since 1972 that the ALWS opened with an error-free game, and No. 9 hitter Camden Traetow broke a scoreless tie with a seventh-inning 3-run double to help lead Burnsville, Minn., to a 4-0 victory over Na-poleon, Ohio, in the first round of the ALWS on Friday. Minnesota (37-10) advances to play Brooklawn, N.J. (43-8), Saturday at 5 p.m. Ohio (46-20) will play Waipahu, Hawaii (23-5), at 9:30 a.m. in loser-out action. With no outs in the top of the seventh inning, a steady drizzling rain slowed down and Traetow put Burnsville in control when he launched an 0-1 fastball into the left-cen-ter field gap. “What a wonderful feeling: Rounding first base knowing that I cleared the bases,” Traetow said. “He started me off with a fast-ball outside that I didn’t like. Then he threw another one right over the plate.” The 16-year-old Traetow advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and then second baseman Eric Watters hit a 1-out RBI single up the middle to put the game at its final margin. The big seventh inning made a winner out of Hanson, who struck out five in 7 1/3 innings en route to improving to 10-1 on the season. “I’ve caught him all season long and I’d rate that performance at a 10,” Traetow, his catcher, said. “His fastball was spotting good enough and his changeup and curveball were on.” The future University of Minnesota pitcher, on the other hand, was not impressed with his performance because of four walks.“I’d give myself a six (out of 10),” Hanson said. “I gave up too many walks and let my pitch count get up there. My fastball wasn’t that hard. I usually try to touch 90 (mph) and I was at about 95 percent, so I may have touched 86. It was probably because

I was tired, or maybe jetlag. My changeup didn’t feel that good. I should have had more confidence in it, but I was focusing on my mechanics—making sure I was getting out in front instead of releasing it up high and leav-ing it up for them to hit it… Same thing with my curveball.“ Relief pitcher Aaron Rozek allowed 3 hits, and struck out 2, over the final 1 2/3 in-nings to earn the save. Ohio actually out-hit Minnesota, 9-7, but left 12 runners on base. Minnesota left 10 on base. Cleanup hitter Bo Hellquist was the only Minnesota player with 2 hits. He went 2-for-2 with a double and 3 walks. Three Ohio players had 2 hits apiece: center fielder Reid Renollet, second baseman Dylan Henderick and third baseman Dom Gentile. “We just didn’t take advantage of the chances we had, leaving 12 on base,” Napoleon coach Shane Coleman said. “It just didn’t go our way. But we didn’t beat ourselves. It was just a good game that didn’t go our way.” Napoleon starting pitcher Weston Rivers was the tough-luck loser on the mound as he was pulled right after the sacrifice bunt in the seventh inning. He allowed 6 hits and 3 walks—the last of which was a leadoff walk in the seventh—in 6 1/3 innings while striking out 7. Three Ohio pitchers combined to strike out 11; seven of them went down looking.

“I would rate our pitching and defensive performances as 10s, but our offensive performance as a 6,” Burnsville coach

Greg Nesbitt said. “We’ve been preaching to be aggressive at the plate and we had way too many strikeouts looking. They’ve got to at least give it a shot.” It was the first time since 2004 that the ALWS opened with a shutout.

Burnsville, MN 4, Napoleon, OH 0Burnsville, MN AB R H BIPeter Nordgren lf 4 0 1 0 Jake Ruffing lf 0 0 0 0Eric Watters 2b 5 0 1 1Tyler Hanson p/3b 4 0 0 0Bo Hellquist 1b 2 0 2 0Tyler Hill cf 4 0 0 0Brandon Dorshak 3b 3 1 0 0 Aaron Rozek p 0 0 0 0Cooper Maas ss 3 1 1 0Zach Smith rf 4 1 1 0Camden Traetow c 4 1 1 3Totals...... 33 4 7 4Napoleon, OH AB R H BIJosh Cales 1b 5 0 1 0Reid Renollet cf 4 0 2 0Dylan Henricks 2b 5 0 2 0Tyler Torrez lf 3 0 1 0Austin Hancock ss 4 0 0 0Michael Gilliland dh 3 0 1 0Zach Fielder rf 4 0 0 0Dom Gentile 3b 4 0 2 0Joe Keween c 3 0 0 0Weston Rivers p 0 0 0 0 Tyler Batt p 0 0 0 0 Blake Kuszmaul p 0 0 0 0Totals...... 35 0 9 0Burnsville, MN...... 000 000 400 - 4 7 0Napoleon, OH........ 000 000 000 - 0 9 0LOB - MN 10; Napoleon 12. 2B - Hellquist, B; Traetow, C; Gentile. SH - Nordgren, P; Hill, T. SB - Hellquist, B. CS - Gilliland.Burnsville, MN IP H R ER BB SOTyler Hanson W 7.1 6 0 0 4 5Aaron Rozek S 1.2 3 0 0 0 2Napoleon, OH IP H R ER BB SOWeston Rivers L 6.1 6 4 4 3 7Tyler Batt 1.2 1 0 0 2 2Blake Kuszmaul 1.0 0 0 0 1 2Umpires - HP: Craig Mills 1B: Joe Rocha 2B: Jay DeSantis 3B: Dave BrownStart: 9:41am Time: 2:19 Attendance: 6595

Burnsville, Minn., pitcher tyler hanson delivers a pitch Friday, Aug. 16, 2013, against Napoleon, Ohio, at the 2013 American Legion World Series in Shelby, N.C. Minnesota beat Ohio, 4-0, in an errorless game.

Victorian Rose photo

Page 317Aug2013 World Series Journal

Big inning lifts Louisiana over CaliforniaCarl Hennell

WSJ Editor

SHELBY, N.C.—One crazy inning can determine the outcome of any game, and that’s what happened in the second game of the American Legion Baseball World Series between Petaluma, Calif., and Gonzales, La., on Friday. After an inside-the-park home run by California catcher Ryan Haug in the top of the third inning, Louisiana erased a 4-0 deficit with small ball and speed on the bases with an 8-run bottom of the third inning, and starting pitcher Austin Tanner rode the bump for 8 innings en route to an 8-5 victory. Louisiana (47-4) advances to play North Carolina (35-2) Saturday at 8:30 p.m. in the sec-ond round. California (32-14) plays Connecticut (32-3) Friday at 1 p.m. in loser-out action. Louisiana’s Nos. 1-2 hitters Robert Podorsky, Mason Nickens—who was injured diving for the inside-the-park homer in right field in the third inning, and Collin De-laune—who replaced Nickens in the lineup, combined for 5 hits and 6 stolen bases. Five of those stolen bases came in the fateful third inning as Podorsky ignited the scoring by singling to the pitcher and then stole second, third and home. “We really needed a spark plug, some-thing to get us started—something big like that,” Podorsky said. “We’ve had two guys steal home this season, but I hadn’t had the chance. But when you see a guy in the windup with a very slow windup, it really gives you a great opportunity when you have speed. I just looked at coach and said let’s do it. So he gave him (Austin Bain) the take sign. It was close. The pitcher sped up when he saw me, and the catcher positioned himself to get me out. I thought I was going to have it easy, but it really wasn’t that easy. It was close.” The wheels fell off of Petaluma as it gave up 2 walks, 2 errors, a wild pitch and 2 bunt singles—along with the 6 stolen

bases and infield single—all in the bottom of the third. Podorsky and Delaune came around to bat twice in the inning and got the back-to-back RBI bunt singles. Nickens also highlighted the inning with a 2-run single to right field. Blaine Schexnayder added an RBI single into left field. “We’ve got a lot of speed and can bunt for base hits,” Delaune said. “It’s really cool when, instead of laying down a sacri-fice bunt, you can drag it or push it and get more guys on base. That’s our game. It really frustrates opponents.” With the big lead, Tanner coasted on the mound. He spotted a high-70 mph fastball with shakey curveballs and changeups to spread 8 hits and 4 walks over 8 innings while striking out 6 to improve to 10-0 on the season. “The fastball was my favorite because it was the only thing I could throw for strikes,” he said. “It was a tough game for me, probably one of my worst games. I only throw about 80 mph, I was probably throw-ing a little less than that today. The curveball was a work in progress. I like my changeup best but I was leaving it up and they were

swinging through it so I didn’t throw it much later in the game.” California out-hit Louisiana, 9-7, in the loss. Podorsky and Delaune were the only

Cali kids with 2 hits and 8 different players scored a run. Robert Busse and Weston Bryan each had 2 hits in the loss.

Gonzales, LA 8, Petaluma, CA 5Petaluma, CA AB R H BIChase Stafford 2b 4 1 0 0Ryan Haug c 5 1 1 2Anthony Bender ss 5 0 1 0Robert Busse 3b 4 1 2 0Weston Bryan 1b 3 2 2 0Blake Patrick lf 2 0 1 1Ryan Walsh rf 3 0 1 1Scott Hilbert dh 4 0 0 1 Vinnie Albano pr 0 0 0 0Charles Parnow cf 4 0 1 0Dominic Garihan p 0 0 0 0 Dom Deville p 0 0 0 0Totals...... 34 5 9 5Gonzales, LA AB R H BIRobert Podorsky 2b 5 1 2 1Mason Nickens rf 1 0 1 0 Collin Delaune lf 2 1 2 1Austin Bain 3b 2 1 0 0Cole Stapler dh 3 1 0 1Blaine Schexnayder ss 4 1 1 1Devin Speligene 1b/p 4 0 0 0Grant McCrory cf 3 1 0 0Jace Fairchild c 3 1 0 0Madison Nickens lf/rf 4 1 1 2Austin Tanner p/1b 0 0 0 0Totals...... 31 8 7 6Petaluma, CA........ 013 001 000 - 5 9 3Gonzales, LA........ 008 000 00X - 8 7 1E - Stafford, C; Bender, A; Busse, R; Schexnayder. LOB - CA 7; LA 5. 2B - Bryan, W 2. HR - Haug, R. HBP - Stapler, C. SH - Walsh, R; Fairchild, J. SB - Busse, R; Podorsky, R 3; Nickens, Mas; Delaune, C 2; Stapler, C; McCrory, G. CS - Delaune, C.Petaluma, CA IP H R ER BB SODominic Garihan L 2.2 4 8 2 4 1Dom Deville 5.1 3 0 0 0 2Gonzales, LA IP H R ER BB SOAustin Tanner W 8.0 8 5 5 4 6Devin Speligene S 1.0 1 0 0 0 2WP - Garihan, D 2; Deville, D. HBP - by Deville, D (Stapler, C).Umpires - HP: Terry Myers 1B: Phil Schlosser 2B: Mark Mayle 3B: Randy SuttonStart: 1:00 pm Time: 2:22 Attendance: 6461

Victorian Rose photo

Gonzales, la., second baseman RobeRt PodoRsky steals home under the tag of Petaluma, Calif., catcher Ryan Haug as batter Austin Bain and umpire Terry Myers watch on Friday, Aug. 16, 2013, at the American Legion Baseball World Series in Shelby, N.C. Louisiana beat California, 8-5.

17Aug2013Page 4 World Series Journal

Carl HennellWSJ Editor

SHELBY, N.C.—It was nearly a repeat of the 2011 first-round American Legion Base-ball World Series game between Waipahu, Hawaii, and Brooklawn, N.J. In a game with three lead changes and two ties—all after the seventh inning—New Jersey’s No. 5-hitting left fielder Jonathan Gonzalez led off the bottom of the 11th in-ning by reaching on an error, stole second, advance to third on a wild pitch, then scored on another wild pitch to give Brooklawn a 5-4 walk-off victory in the first round of the 2013 ALWS on Friday. Brooklawn (43-8) advances to play Burnsville, Minn. (37-10) Saturday at 5 p.m. Hawaii (23-5) falls to play Napoleon, Ohio (46-20), at 9:30 a.m. in loser-out action. Brooklawn tied the game, 4-4, in the bottom of the 9th inning with two outs when first baseman Anthony Harrold scored on an error. Harrold would have had the game-tying, one-out RBI double but designated hitter Tyler Mondile neglected to touch home plate while celebrating running home from third base and was tagged out as he entered the dugout. The muff up would have made Harrold’s run the game winner. But those weren’t the only late-game dramatics. Trailing 3-2 with two outs in the top of the ninth inning, Hawaii right fielder Drake Yoshioka drove a 1-2 pitch to the right field wall for a game-tying RBI triple. Then he scored when outfielder Bryson Yasui singled an 0-1 pitch into left field to give Hawaii a 4-3 lead. Brooklawn took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the eighth inning when left fielder Fran Kinsey, who led the inning off with a single to left field, scored on a two-out wild pitch. Brooklawn tied the game, 2-2, in the bottom of the seventh inning when Gonza-lez, Mondile and Harrold strung together 3 straight singles into the outfield. Hawaii took a 2-1 lead in the top of the seventh on Yasui’s RBI single into left field that scored Austyn Nagamine, who had an infield single to lead off the inning. Brooklawn tied the game, 1-1, in the bottom of the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly by Mondile that scored Sean Breen, who hit a one-out single. In the tooth-and-nail brawl, two starting pitchers had great performances. Brooklawn’s Mike Shawaryn lasted nine innings, allowing 7 hits and no walks

while striking out 12 by using a low-90 mph fastball and sharp curveball. Brooklawn coach Dennis Barth said that Hawaii did a great job putting the ball in play against Sha-waryn—something that most teams weren’t able to do this year—and that enabled his pitch count to remain low enough to last through nine innings. Hawaii’s Dylan Sugimoto allowed 9 hits and 2 walks over 8 1/3 innings. He struck out 3. Hawaii coach Kerry Kiyabu said that Sugimoto didn’t have his best game, but did a great job finding ways to get outs. Brooklawn out-hit Hawaii, 9-8. Each team committed two costly errors. Nick Cieri matched Gonzalez and Har-rold with 2 hits apiece to help lead Brook-lawn on offense. Gonzalez also had 2 stolen bases. Tanner Tokunaga and Yasui helped lead Hawaii on offense with two hits apiece. “Some people will say that it may have been their (Brooklawn’s) experience, hav-ing been here three times, but I don’t think so,” Kiyabu said. “It was just a good game between two teams trying to win. It was two teams battling to try and win any way they can… taking advantage of the other team’s mistakes.”

New Jersey walks off on wild pitch in 11

Victorian Rose photo

Brooklawn, n.J., left fielder Jonathan Gonzalez slides into home plate and batter Pete Farlow pumps his fist in celebration of the winning run in the bot-tom of the 11th inning Friday, Aug. 16, 2013, night at the 2013 American Legion Baseball World Series. Gonzalez scored on a wild pitch to help lift New Jersey to a 5-4 victory.

Brooklawn, NJ 5, Waipahu, HI 4Waipahu, HI AB R H BITanner Tokunaga cf/3b 5 1 2 0Brent Sakurai 3b/p 3 0 0 0Austyn Nagamine dh 3 1 1 1 Tyler Uchiyama pr/dh 1 1 0 0Austin Inabata rf 4 0 0 0Drake Yoshioka 2b 5 1 1 1Bryson Yasui lf/cf 4 0 2 2Jaraad Salas 1b 5 0 0 0Reid Akau ss 4 0 1 0Kamalu Neal c 3 0 1 0Dylan Sugimoto p 0 0 0 0 Josh Maglangit p 0 0 0 0Totals...... 37 4 8 4Brooklawn, NJ AB R H BIPhil Dickinson ss 0 0 0 0 Mike Garofolo cf 5 0 0 0Fran Kinsey rf 5 1 1 0Sean Breen 2b 3 1 1 0Nick Cieri 3b 5 0 2 0Jonathan Gonzalez lf 4 2 2 0Tyler Mondile dh 2 0 1 1Anthony Harrold 1b 4 1 2 1 Brandon Gray ph 0 0 0 0Pete Farlow cf/ss 3 0 0 0John Theckston c 4 0 0 0Mike Shawaryn p 0 0 0 0 Mike Mercer p 0 0 0 0Totals...... 35 5 9 2Waipahu, HI......... 100 000 102 00 - 4 8 2Brooklawn, NJ....... 000 100 111 01 - 5 9 2Note: None out, 2 runners LOB when the game ended.E - Yoshioka, D; Akau, R; Breen, S 2. DP - HI 2; NJ-Host 1. LOB - HI 6; NJ-Host 8.2B - Cieri, N; Harrold, A. 3B - Yoshioka, D. HBP - Nagamine,A. SH - Sakurai,B;Inabata,A; Neal,K; Breen, S; Farlow, P. SF - Mondile, T. SB - Gonzalez, J 2. CS -Yasui, B.Waipahu, HI IP H R ER BB SODylan Sugimoto 8.1 9 4 3 2 3Josh Maglangit L 1.2 0 1 0 3 0Brent Sakurai 0.0 0 0 0 0 0Brooklawn, NJ IP H R ER BB SOMike Shawaryn 9.0 7 4 2 0 12Mike Mercer W 2.0 1 0 0 2 2WP - Sakurai,B; Sugimoto,D; Maglangit,J. HBP - by Shawaryn, M (Nagamine,A). PB -Theckston, J.Umpires - HP: Joe Rocha 1B: Jay DeSantis 2B: Dave Brown 3B: Craig MillsStart: 5:15pm Time: 2:54 Attendance: 6601