Greensboro wins slugfest against Mazatlán
Greensboro, Michigan 10 Mazatlán, Mexico 7
In one of the more unconventional games a baseball fan would ever see, East Zone Champion Greensboro, North Carolina out dueled Mexico Zone Champion Mazatlán, Sinaloa 10-7 in game two of day two at the Colt World Series.
It was unconventional in that Greensboro starting pitcher Bryson Hamlet was working a no-hitter on 58 pitches, after four innings, as his offense built him a 9-0 lead. He was then replaced on the mound by two relievers who ended up allowing seven runs, making it a game. Luckily for North Carolina, it had built enough insurance runs early in support of Hamelt, and Eli Willen shut the door down in the seventh to pull out a victory.
Greensboro jumped out of the gate early. In the bottom of the first, C.J. Johnson tripled to right field and scored on the next at-bat, a single hit by Isaiah Hairston. Greensboro went on a two-out rally in the bottom of the second, using three hits (one for extra bases), three walks and a hit batsman to score six runs. The East Zone Champions were back at it in the third, when Noah Lea recorded his second RBI of the day on a single up the middle. Cody Donnell then made it a 9-0 game thanks to his ground ball single to left field that scored Lea.
Hamlet was cruising through four innings, but he was lifted for Mark Scott in the top of the fifth. Scott walked Carlos Tiznado to start the inning, before he struck out Jose Osuna. The next four-consecutive hitters for Mexico singled, as the squad scored its first three runs of the game. Scott was relieved by Willen, who induced a ground ball for the out, and then Willen recorded a strikeout to stop the bleeding (9-4).
Mazatlán went on a two-out rally of its own in the top of the sixth. With the bases loaded, Angel Estrada hit a single to left field that skipped under the Greensboro left fielder and rolled deep into left field. Carlos Ruiz, Tiznado and Jose Carreon all scored on the play to cut the Greensboro lead to 9-7. A ground out ended the rally.
Derek Martinez stole the momentum away from Mazatlán, when he led off the bottom of the sixth with a triple to deep left field. Isaiah Rhem then scored Martinez on a sacrifice fly (10-7). Willen sent Mexico down one-two-three in the seventh for the save.
Four players recorded multi-hit games and multiple RBI for Greensboro. On the other side, Estrada and Carreon led Mazatlán with two hits apiece. Estrada and Joint Bernal led the team with two RBI.
The East Zone Champions stay alive with the win. They will play the loser of Game #8 between Covina, California and Seoul, Korea in Game #9 tomorrow at 11 a.m. CT/US. Following the team’s second loss, Mazatlán is eliminated, but it will have the chance to play in another game, consolation Game #13 Monday against Marion, Illinois.
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