FRAZIER GETS CHANCE, IS WINNING PITCHER

In last night’s 11 inning marathon, Todd Fraiser of the East Region Championship Team from New Jersey begged his coach to let him pitch.

Although his wish would not be granted, manager Mike Gaynor gave him the start tonight.

Everything was going well for the New Jersey starting pitcher until the fourth inning. His opposition, pitcher Alex Alba, hit a two-run homerun to break a scoreless tie.

"I just took a high, outside fastball over the fence in left," Alba said.

New Jersey did not give up after the opposite field shot. Frasier came to bat with a chance to redeem himself, but Alba intentionally walked him to face Scott Fisher. Fisher singled and that brought Gabe Gardner to the plate and he would make the West Region champion Cypress pay.

On a 1-2 pitch, Alba served up a three-run homerun to Gardner and lost the lead. That shot put New Jersey in the lead 4-2. Fraiser then held Cypress scoreless in the last two innings to hold for the win.

"It feels good to be the hero," Gardner said. "I knew I could hit the ball."

It could easily be determined that Fraiser was the hero as well. He struck out four Cypress players and got out of a jam in the final inning.

For Cypress, it was a bad time to be in a hitting slump. Their only runs were scored via the Alba homerun. They only managed three hits.

"We haven’t been scoring runs lately," said Cypress manager Greg Novy. "We need to start hitting."

Overall it was a great game. With two lead changes coming from homeruns, it provided an exciting evening.

"We’re not out of this tournament yet," Alba said. "We can always comeback."

--Mark Rogoff
   Special Correspondent