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Moving day at Diethrick

Wisconsin, Florida post wins, advance to semifinals

By Matt Spielman 5 min read

Janesville, Wisconsin, trailed for most of Thursday's first quarterfinal at the Babe Ruth 13-year-old World Series.

The Ohio Valley Region champions made up for it late.

Wisconsin used a pair of bunts to plate the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning en route to a 7-6 win over Bethel, Connecticut at Diethrick Park.

The victory sends the American Division's No. 2 seed into today's 7 p.m. semifinal against National Division No. 1 seed Atlantic Shore, New Jersey.

Jordan Timm drew a leadoff walk in the seventh inning Thursday before pinch-runner Xander Jacobson stole second. Lucas Martin's sacrifice bunt advanced Jacobson to third before Russell Tourdot laid down another bunt with a 1-1 count and Jacobson raced home with the winning run.

Wisconsin trailed 6-5 entering the bottom of the sixth inning, but Cayden James led off with a single and stole second ahead of Camden Demrow's bunt single to put runners at the corners with no outs. After a Connecticut reliever entered, Jacobson stole second as a courtesy runner before Eli Mosley lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to tie the game.

Connecticut, the New England Region champion, took a 1-0 lead in the first inning as Eli Beverly drew a bases-loaded walk to score Ron Tellefsen Player of the Game Bradley Carroll, who had singled with two outs and stole second.

Tourdot led off the bottom of the first with a walk, stole second, went to third on a sacrifice bunt by James and scored on Demrow's RBI single.

Connecticut regained a 3-1 lead in the third inning. Maxwell DeMoura reached on an error and Carroll hit an RBI double before a double-steal later in the inning made it a two-run game.

Wisconsin got a run back in the bottom of the frame. James - his team's Ron Tellefsen Player of the Game - singled with one out, stole second and scored on Mosley's RBI single.

Lucas McGerity was hit by a pitch and later scored on an error before Riley Rozon singled and scored on DeMoura's RBI groundout in the top of the fourth.

Wisconsin answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning. Colton Lund singled with one out and Jordan Timm reached on catcher's interference before Martin reached on an error that allowed Lund to score. After a strikeout, James hit an RBI single.

Connecticut made it 6-4 in the top of the fifth when Owen Sveda reached on an error and scored when Beverly bunted and the throw got away at first base.

Ryan Trumpy singled and later scored on an error in Wisconsin's half of the fifth inning to set up the final two innings.

FLORIDA 10, JAMESTOWN 0

The crowd was on Jamestown's side and three batters into Thursday's game, it looked like that might get to Tallahassee-Leon, Florida's starting pitcher Alex McGee.

It didn't take long for the right-hander to quiet the crowd and the host team's bats.

McGee tossed six innings of shutout ball, allowing three hits and one walk while striking out eight as the Southeast Region champions won the second quarterfinal of the Babe Ruth 13-year-old World Series 10-0 at Diethrick Park.

The victory sends Florida into today's 4:30 p.m. semifinal against Mililani, Hawaii. The Pacific Southwest Region champions earned the No. 1 seed in the American Division and a bye.

Jamestown had a chance to jump ahead early Thursday. In the top of the first, Dominik Csont and Jaxon Watts hit consecutive one-out singles, but McGee got out of the inning with back-to-back strikeouts.

McGee's offense gave him all of the run support he would need in the bottom of the frame. McGee, Florida's Ron Tellefsen Player of the Game, actually led off with a single and went to third on a pair of wild pitches before back-to-back walks to Gabe Harper and Harvey Reichert loaded the bases. CJ Usina hit an RBI single and Grayson Goeke was hit by a pitch to force in another run as Jamestown quickly turned to its bullpen. Cole Miller was hit by the first pitch Damon Bell threw to force in a third run and Whit Jacobs hit an RBI groundball to make it 4-0.

Florida tacked on three more runs in the third inning. Usina led off with a walk and went to second on a wild pitch before Goeke's single. A balk plated Usina and Miller hit an RBI single before Evan House eventually hit an RBI single to make it 7-0.

Jamestown had a chance to score in the fifth when Josh Cowan led off with a walk and Bell - his team's Ron Tellefsen Player of the Game - followed with a double to the left-field wall, but a perfect relay from House to Reichert to Jacobs cut down Cowan at the plate.

Florida put the game away with a three-run sixth inning. House walked, McGee singled and Usina singled before Goeke hit an RBI single and the final two runs scored on wild pitches.

Starting at /week.