AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL / WORLD SERIES : Newbury Oaks Capsizes in 8-5 Defeat

Local baseball fans, and there are more than a few, claim that well-hit balls to left field become fish food with regularity.

Just beyond the fence in left, down a grassy slope and through a stand of trees, lies the scenic Red River, which separates North Dakota from Minnesota.

Newbury Oaks was in the red all day Wednesday.

The champion of the Southwest regional fell behind early and never recovered, losing its first-round game of the American Legion World Series, 8-5, to Arlington Heights, Ill., before about 2,000 at Jack Williams Field.

Glub, glub, glub.

“Anybody got a lifesaver?” Newbury Oaks Coach Chuck Fick quipped. “It obviously wasn’t our best game of the year.”

As a result, Newbury Oaks (36-3) again will play in the morning, facing Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, today at 8 a.m. (PDT) in an elimination game. Guaynabo lost to Brooklawn, N.J., 4-3. Brooklawn is the defending Series champion.

Newbury Oaks collected two hits and a walk in the bottom of the first inning but failed to score.

Leadoff batter Ryan Kritscher opened with a walk but was picked off by right-hander Brian Schmack, who pitched last season for Northern Illinois. Schmack (3-1) then served up singles to Robert Fick and David Lamb, but cleanup hitter Trent Martin grounded into a double play to smother the threat and set the tone.

“The first inning we had runners on and we didn’t get anything,” Kritscher said. “That put us on a down note.”

Down they went.

Arlington Heights (41-16) scored three runs in the second off left-hander Tighe Curran (9-1) and then relied on the strong pitching of Schmack.

Schmack, who pitched 10 innings in regional play Sunday, went the distance. Playing on a field that had been soaked by rainfall, Newbury Oaks kept killing worms with choppers, nubbers and ground balls.

“It was definitely wet and slow from the rain,” said Schmack, who gave up one earned run and eight hits.

“That didn’t hurt.”

One batter in particular saturated Newbury Oaks with pesky clutch hits. No. 9 hitter Phil O’Grady, a 5-foot-9, 150-pound third baseman, had three singles and drove in four runs. He had a two-run single in the second to start Curran’s downfall and added RBIs in the fourth and eighth.

“They think that because I bat ninth, I have a slow bat,” O’Grady said. “But I’m a contact hitter.”

Which was the perfect tonic for Curran’s off-speed offerings. Curran gave up three earned runs and nine hits over eight innings but had trouble spotting his pitches and grooved a few fastballs.

“When you get runners on and you’re not a fastball pitcher, guys will just go with the pitch,” Chuck Fick said. “Tighe just didn’t have his good stuff today.”

Schmack generally did, though his defense was a little shaky. With only one hit in the second inning, Newbury Oaks scored two unearned runs to move within 3-2. O’Grady blooped a run-scoring single to center in the fourth, though, to extend the lead to 4-2.

From the third through seventh innings, Schmack took charge. He gave up one hit over that span, holding Newbury Oaks scoreless.

Curran was replaced to open the ninth by right-hander Craig Arnold, who yielded a walk and two hits to the four batters he faced. With one out, Jason Patterson was plugged in for Arnold, but before order was restored, Arlington Heights scratched out three more runs to take an 8-3 lead.

Newbury Oaks, which entered the ninth with five hits, scored twice to move within 8-5. However, with two out and runners at second and third, Schmack retired pinch-hitter Adam West on a grounder to first.

Newbury Oaks’ best shot at Schmack came in the eighth. With the bases loaded and two out, Schmack walked Jamal Nichols to force in a run, cutting Arlington Heights’ lead to 5-3.

Curran followed with a grounder to first that took a wicked hop, but Chris Wold reacted in time to record the unassisted third out.

Twelve of the first 15 Newbury Oaks outs came on ground balls. “Everything I hit seemed to go right into the ground,” Curran said.

A familiar refrain, and if Newbury Oaks can’t win today, it will mean the deep-six.