LITTLE LEAGUE WORLD SERIES : Long Beach Reaches Championship Game

Often during a 21-game winning streak, the outcome for the Long Beach Little League All-Stars has come down to the play of two boys.

Thursday afternoon, before 22,000 spectators in Lamade Stadium, Sean Burroughs and Ryan Beaver delivered again, propelling Long Beach past Hamilton Square, N.J., 1-0, and into the championship game of the Little League World Series.

Long Beach will play Mindanao, Philippines, which upset undefeated Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in Thursday’s other semifinal, 5-1. The final will be played Saturday at 1 p.m. Burroughs, the 11-year old son of former major leaguer Jeff Burroughs, pitched a three-hitter, walked three and struck out nine. Beaver delivered the most dramatic hit of the series so far, a home run to the opposite field with one out in the top of the sixth inning off New Jersey starter Adam Famoso. It was the first hit by Long Beach, wrapping around the right-field foul pole by inches.

“I was pretty sure he was going to throw me a fastball,” Beaver said. “When I saw it coming I knew what it was.”

The soft-spoken Beaver had hit a similar home run against Hawaii in the Western Regional tournament 10 days ago. That time, his shot in the bottom of the sixth tied the score, 2-2, and then Burroughs followed with a game-winning homer.

Thursday afternoon, Burroughs, batting .640, struggled at the plate, going hitless in three at-bats. But on the mound, he was in trouble only once. That was in the bottom of the fourth when New Jersey got runners on first and second with one out. Relying mainly on his fastball, however, Burroughs struck out the next two batters. That was the only time New Jersey got a runner to second base.

“I felt very comfortable,” he said.

As for the team’s sudden lack of hitting, he said: “We don’t hit the curveball too well. We’d rather hit fastballs.”

The clutch play of Beaver, who will probably be the starting pitcher Saturday, and Burroughs has not been lost on the rest of the team.

“You knew sooner or later that it was going to come down to Sean or Ryan hitting a home run to win it,” said center fielder Randall Shelley, who had pitched a 16-1 victory over Lake Charles, La., on Wednesday. “They have always done that and when it gets down to the last inning, you just know they will do it again.”

The home run by Beaver overshadowed a strong performance by Famoso, who gave up two hits and kept hard-hitting Long Beach, batting .359 as a team, off balance. Famoso had not pitched in weeks, but New Jersey Manager Jerry Conti thought his changeups and slow curves might be just the ticket against Long Beach.

“I was sitting in the stands Wednesday, watching Long Beach beat Lake Charles like that,” he said of the six-homer, 15-hit barrage. “They hit the fastball so well. So I thought to myself, ‘Have I got a pitcher for them!’ ”

And for most of the game, he was right.