American Legion World Series : 16-Year-Old Pitches 7-Hitter in Eliminating Fullerton, 9-2

Dan Robinson, co-coach of the Fullerton Angels, spent the early innings of Friday’s American Legion World Series game well outside his team’s dugout. Robinson was outside the field of play, in fact, choosing to watch the game through a chain-link fence.

He needed room to fidget, pace nervously and think about ways to light a fire under his players.

“And there’s no smoking allowed in the dugout,” Robinson said.

A 9-2 loss to Janesville, Wis., however, left Robinson’s team on the outside looking in, too. Their second loss at Millington Legion Field eliminated the Angels from the tournament.

Janesville right-hander Mark Sievert, a 16-year-old high school junior, pitched a seven-hitter, struck out five and walked one.

Fullerton (39-10) had a chance to rattle Sievert early. In the second inning, Tho Nguyen led off with a double to left and moved to third on Steve Trachsel’s single to right. Matt Carter drove in Nguyen with a sacrifice fly to right for a 1-0 lead.

Darby Carmichael followed with a single to center, moving Trachsel to third and bringing starting pitcher Brad Zeppieri (7-5) to the plate. Zeppieri sacrificed Carmichael to second, but Sievert (10-0) struck out No. 9 hitter Brad Hudak to end the inning.

“Had I known then that he was 16, I might have squeezed him,” Robinson said of Sievert and Zeppieri’s straight sacrifice bunt. “We might have tried to shake him up a little.”

Instead, Sievert shut down Fullerton. After the second inning, Sievert retired 15 of the next 18 batters; one of the three reached on an error. Fullerton, which stranded two runners in the pivotal second inning and six in the game, left 29 runners on base in three Series games.

Trailing, 5-1, Fullerton scored its final run in the sixth on Greg Coleman’s home run to left. Coleman, who attended Cal State Fullerton last year but did not play for the Titans, was so impressive in the Region 8 tournament last week in Union City, Calif., that he was offered a partial scholarship at Miami (Fla.), left immediately after the game for Florida.

After Coleman’s homer closed the gap to three, Janesville (43-7) put the game out of reach in the sixth, with help from some shaky Fullerton defense. Facing Angel reliever Guy Pinelli, Sievert walked to open the inning and moved to second on Joel Schmitz’s single to center. One out later, right-hander Shane Borowski relieved Pinelli and walked Dan Milligan to load the bases.

Kyle Anderson then singled in two runs, and one out later, Fullerton shortstop Tom Wilson’s throwing error allowed two more runs to score for a 9-2 Janesville lead.

“Our problem all year has been making errors at clutch times,” Robinson said. “We did that a couple of more times today.”

Steve Friedrich and Nguyen had two hits for Fullerton. Friedrich, a 16-year-old outfielder who had two hits in each game, finished the Series with a team-high six hits in 13 at-bats.