Game 13
Mexico 11 vs. Emea 1

Sunday, August 20, 2006
7:00PM ET

By Brandon Miller
Special Correspondent

In a stunning display of pitching dominance, the Matamoros Little League All-Stars from Matamoros, Mexico, two-hit the Brateevo Little League All-Stars from Moscow, Russia, en route to an 11-1 victory at Little League Volunteer Stadium in a five-inning game shortened by the mercy rule.

With chants of “Josue, Josue, Josue, Josue” the Mexican fans watched as pitcher Josue Barron dominated the opposition, striking out 12 in five innings while allowing only two hits and an unearned run.

The performance by Barron gave the Mexico team a 2-0 record in Pool D play.

“He pitched well,” said Matamoros manager Candelario Perez through interpreter Micah Hughes. “Fortunately we had the advantage at first because we scored some runs.”

“It felt good,” said Barron. “I was a little nervous at first, but after I started throwing the ball, we scored and got ahead a little bit, so I gained a little confidence and threw well from there on out.”

“I think, compared to Japan, Mexico looks the best, which I didn’t expect,” said Brateevo coach Andrey Tselykovski. “Mexico looks like the strongest team I ever saw from Mexico.”

Taking advantage of seven Brateevo errors, Matamoros pushed across eleven runs (seven unearned) on nine hits to back up Barron.

“The point of the game was just to win it,” said Manager Perez. “It didn’t matter how and it didn’t really matter if it was the fifth inning or the sixth inning, the point of it was just to get the win.”

Leading the offense was Jose Segoviano who went 3-for-4 with two singles, a double, and four runs batted in.

Jose Ortiz pitched in with a drive to centerfield that cleared the fence to start the second inning, and sent the Mexico fans into an uproar.

“I’m very happy and very content hitting my first home run of the tournament,” said Ortiz. “Hopefully I’ll have more.”

Later in the second, Mexico leadoff hitter, Omar Zamora, blooped a ball into shallow right field that was ruled an error when the second baseman and right fielder collided trying to make the play. The throw in to third was high allowing Zamora to score and increase the lead to 4-0.

Matamoros scored two runs in every inning of the game until the fifth when they plated three runs, highlighted by a Segoviano two-run single, to make the lead 11-1 and bring the mercy rule into play.

When asked about the boisterous fan support, manager Perez said, “They’ve really been with us all the way. They’ve been supporting us a lot and it feels very good.”

In a scary moment in the top of the first, Matamoros’ Julio Vargas was hit in the head by a Vesenev pitch and dropped to the ground immediately. After being tended to by the medical staff, Vargas walked off under his own power and was replaced by a special pinch runner.

After dominating World Series qualifying play, the Brateevo All-Stars have struggled in South Williamsport, having scored only one run on two hits in their first two games.

“Basically we’re facing much better pitching than back in the regionals,” said Coach Tselykovski. “A lot of guys throw hard, but they don’t have the breaking balls. We tried to throw our best guy (Andrey Vesenev), but he was also a little nervous. He’s only been playing baseball for two years.”

The Brateevo All-Stars did have their own flashes of brilliance, however. Shortstop Viktor Elkin made three brilliant defensive plays in an attempt to keep Russia in the game.

Brateevo Little League’s only run came in the fourth inning, when Semenov’s single broke up Barron’s no-hit bid. An error on the play landed Semenov at second base. Three batters later he came in to score on an error by shortstop Zamora who was trying to complete a double play to end the inning.