Dodgers walk to spot in Minor championship game
The Jewel City/Jewish War Veterans Kiwanis Dodgers team was selective in its Minor baseball game Thursday night against the Vaquero Cougars.
The Dodgers took full advantage of pitching woes by the Cougars to draw 17 walks in the Tri-Cities Little League District 16 Tournament of Champions game, earning a 14-3 victory at Pacific Park.
The game was called in the bottom of the fourth inning when the two-hour time limit was met.
“We just take whatever they give us,” Dodgers coach Eric Horn said. “If the count is 3-0 or 2-0 we just tell the guys to be selective and make sure the ball is over the plate.
“We just want to play smart baseball and that’s what we try and teach the kids. We want them to just get the most of each at-bat.”
The win puts Jewel City into the tournament championship game at 1 p.m. Sunday at Tujunga Little League Fields.
The Cougars will play in a second-chance--bracket contest 1 p.m. Saturday at Tujunga against the Foothill Dodgers.
“We are a very tough team to beat twice,” Cougars coach Adrian Fieda said. “We were just a little off today and we struggled with our pitching. We are looking to bounce back Saturday.”
The Cougars used four pitchers against the Dodgers.
Jewel City wasted little time jumping out to a lead it would never relinquish. Caleb Camp (three for three with a walk and four runs scored) and Reilly Brousseau (one hit, three walks and four runs) had infield hits and the Dodgers had three walks to take a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning.
A solo inside-the-park home run by Jacobo Mendieta, a single by Camp and six walks helped Jewel City push across five more runs in the second inning for a 7-0 lead as the inning was called after the Dodgers reached the five-run threshold.
“It’s nice to have walks, yes, but I think most of the guys on our team would prefer to have hits,” Camp said. “Some of our players get frustrated when we’re losing, so it was good to score first and get the lead.”
The Dodgers continued to flex their offensive muscle in the third inning, adding two runs to increase their lead to 9-0.
Vaquero was able to break the shutout with three runs in its half of the third. Jason Barcena belted a single that scored two runs in the frame. The Cougars plated the other run on an error.
“It was nice for us to be able to break the shutout,” Fieda said.
The Dodgers had another threshold inning in the fourth, scoring five runs on no hits and six walks.
Bennett Stewart had four walks and Blake Deckelman and Isaac Sandler had three walks apiece for the Dodgers.
Brian Saldana had two walks for the Cougars.
Twitter: @jefftsports
