Long Beach, California advances to the 2019 Mustang-9 World Series Championship game following a delayed 8-7 victory against Guasave, Sinaloa, Mexico.
Mexico kicked off the scoring in the bottom of the first inning on Sunday night, scoring on Kevin Castro’s double to left field. Brayan Armenta extended the lead in the next at bat with a single to center field for a 2-0 lead. However, Long Beach would answer in the second inning, scoring on Ivan Ortiz’s ground out to the pitcher and Antonio Hernandez’s hustle to take advantage of an error to tie the game at 2-2.
Long Beach took the lead in the third inning, when Hernandez grounded out to first base, scoring Cameron Powell. Kevin Castro’s single to center field tied the game at 3-3 for Guasave in the bottom of the inning. Ismael Santillan was able to regain the lead for the Californians, as he was able to score on a passed ball in the fourth inning. However, this lead was short-lived as well, as Mexico scored three runs on two errors and a passed ball for a 6-4 lead in the bottom of the inning.
Again, the Californians pulled the game back, tying it up on efforts to score from passed balls from Jacob Brown and Ortiz. In the top of the sixth inning, Alan Montes singled on a fly ball to second base to take a 7-6 lead before Robert Tuiagamoa scored on a passed ball for a two-run lead. During the bottom of the sixth inning, the game was delayed due to time constraints and lighting. When the bottom of the inning picked back up at 9:00 AM on Monday morning, both teams were ready to go. With bases loaded and two outs, Sergio Flores scored from third base on a wild pitch to cut the deficit to just one run. However, the comeback was not meant to be for the Mexico Zone Champions, as a flyout to left field ended the game.
Kevin Castro led all batters finishing 3-for-3 at the plate with two RBIs. Leonel Villa finished 2-for-4 and Sergio Flores struck out two while allowing one hit during his three innings on the mound for Mexico. For Long Beach, the offensive attack was spread out as Alan Montes and Ismael Santillan finished with a hit and an RBI each, and Antonio Hernandez and Ivan Ortiz both ended the day with an RBI to their name. Ivan Ortiz ended his appearance on the mound with a strike out and allowed no hits in an inning pitched.
With the victory, Long Beach remains undefeated in the 2019 Mustang-9 World Series and will face San Diego, California in the championship game of the tournament at 1:00 PM on Monday. Guasave’s run in the tournament comes to an end as the side finishes with a 2-2 record.