 GREAT LAKES!!
T.J. Baumet pitched his heart out Friday night for Brownsburg, Indiana.
He tossed a 3-hit complete game shutout as his team went on to defeat Lake Charles, Louisiana, 2-0.
“It’s really big for the kids to win the first game,” said Brownsburg manager Gary King. “It’s a hard-working, blue collar team. This is the first win for Brownsburg at the World Series so it’s big.”
Baumet struck out 11 while walking two and hitting a batter. He fanned two Lousiana hitters in every inning except the fourth.
“I just kept my attitude up the whole game,”he said.
 Ben Mount, manager of the Gulf States champion team, was impressed with Baumet, but figured his team could have hit him.
“We should have been able to hit him,” he said. “It’s something we’ve seen before. We just didn’t get much production.”
The top three hitters in the Lousiana lineup went a combined 1-for-9 with five strikeouts.
Offensively for Brownsburg, Michael Bradburn’s one-out solo home run in the second inning was all the Great Lakes Region champs needed. They did add an insurance run in the fourth inning when center fielder Kyle Waggoner scored on a wild pitch.
On the other end of the pitching duel, Lousiana pitcher Jack Hart pitched well, but surrendered the decisive home run.
“Hart has excellent mechanics,” King said. “He throws the ball really hard.”
Brownsburg will play Lincoln, Rhode Island Saturday at 7:00p.m. EDT in Howard J. Lamade Stadium. Lake Charles next faces Oceanside, California Sunday at 3:00p.m. in the same venue.
“We were 11-0 heading into this tournament, so it will be interesting to see how the kids respond,” Mount said. “The kids were really disappointed. I hope they can build on this and know they have to win the next two games.
-Mark Rogoff
Special Correspondent |
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