Backing up a massive upset win to open the Connie Mack World Series, the Strike Zone Baseball team was at it again Monday.
Playing late into the night after rain delayed play early in the evening at Ricketts Park in Farmington, the CMWS host Strike Zone Baseball claimed a 5-3 victory against EnFuego Elite, a team from Seattle that qualified as the Northwest/Canada regional champion.
The win came on the heels of a 2-1 win Friday against the 2012 CMWS champion Southern California Renegades.
Durango graduate and Seward County Community College (Kansas) commit Lawrence Mayberry played shortstop and led off the host team’s batting order. He finished the game 1-for-3 at the plate, drawing a walk with the bases loaded to produce Strike Zone’s first run in a three-run second inning. He also scored a run after delievering a leadoff single in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Bayfield graduate and University of New Mexico commit Kelton McCoy played catcher and batted fourth in the Strike Zone lineup. He went 0-for-2 with a walk and threw out a runner attempting to steal second base in the fourth inning.
Tresten Kennard finished the game on the mound for Strike Zone. The Lubbock, Texas, regional import player pitched 3 1/3 innings and struck out five. He walked three and allowed two hits but no earned runs. Albuquerque’s Jensen Lewis started the game for Strike Zone and was relieved in a tie game after tossing 3 2/3 innings.
Albuquerque’s Drew Gillespie, the winning pitcher in a complete game Friday, delivered the go-ahead RBI single in the bottom of the fourth inning and advanced Mayberry to third. Gillespie then stole second base, and Mayberry took off down the third base line to score on the catcher’s throw down to second.
The win moved Strike Zone to 2-0 in the 12-team, double-elimination tournament. In the 52-year history of the Connie Mack World Series, the top tournament for baseball players 18-and-younger, a host team has never won.
In the winner’s bracket, Strike Zone will face a national powerhouse in the Dallas Tigers at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. The Tigers have scored 23 wins in two wins against D-BAT Elite 18U and D-BAT Elite 17U.
On the other side of the bracket, the perennial favorite East Cobb Yankees of Murietta, Georgia, have a bye after defeating the Connecticut Bombers on Monday and fellow top-tier contender Midland (Ohio) Redskins on Saturday.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com.
