Media battles, can’t overcome two unearned runs in LLWS opening loss

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT — Media enjoyed the home-field advantage in the stands Wednesday night at the Little League World Series opener.

The team from Needville, Texas, was just fine with that, so long as it had the edge on the field.

DJ Jablonski threw 5.2 brilliant innings before reaching his pitch count maximum, and the Southwest champs scratched out a pair of unearned runs in the fourth inning to open the series with a 2-1 win over Media at Howard J. Lamade Stadium.

Media, the Mid-Atlantic Regional champion, drops into the loser’s bracket and will next take on the loser of Thursday’s game between Northwest (Northeast Seattle) and New England (Maine’s Gray New Gloucester) on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Media had just three hits on the night, including two from Christian Nunez and both of the game’s extra-base knocks. Ten strikeouts, all for Jablonski, and no walks until the sixth meant it didn’t get sufficient traffic on the basepaths. The top four in Media’s batting order went 0-for-9.

“I thought we were really nervous at the plate,” coach Tom Bradley said. “Once you get a strike on you, you want to be ready to swing, and I don’t think they were ready to swing on that second strike. We go through these highs and lows where we get a lot of runs and then all of a sudden we’re down and we’re in some tight games and we come back. I’m hoping the kids relax, go out there and hit the ball like we know how.”

Media put the tying run on second base with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, but reliever Colten Georgi induced Nate Saleski to ground out to shortstop to end the game.

Southwest’s offensive breakthrough came on a busted play in the top of the fourth. Jablonski struck out with two runners on base on a ball in the dirt, but he smartly took off for first. Saleski, the Media catcher, threw to first to complete the force out. But with Jagger McRae straying off second base, first baseman Trevor Skowronek threw to second, and the relay to the plate wasn’t quick enough to stop 12-hitter Corbin Riddle, who singled to lead off the inning, from scampering home.

Easton Ondruch followed with a single to center that dipped just in front of a sliding Rhys Muessig to score McRae, who had reached on an error, and make it 2-0. Both runs were unearned.

“We didn’t play the way we usually play tonight,” Bradley said. “We’re a good team. Usually we’re sound defensively. We didn’t get any infield practice, and that really hurt us.”

Media starter Austin Crowley had been dealing to that point. He struck out eight and walked one. He was lifted after four innings at 69 pitches. That rounds down to the total at the start of his last batter to below 65, meaning he needs three calendar days rest and would be eligible to pitch again on Sunday.

For Media, the game looked a little too much like the Mid-Atlantic Regional final last Friday. In that game, it was no-hit for six innings before Skowronek won the game in extra innings with a walk-off two-run home run.

Wednesday, Media got the first hits of the night in the bottom of the second. But it struggled to string together hits after that, with just three safeties on the day.

Nunez clubbed a triple to left with one out in the fifth. He scored on a ground out to second by Muessig, but the out was more valuable to Southwest.

Media appeared to get its nine-hitter on board to start the bottom of the sixth with a hit by pitch. But video review showed it hit the knob of Patrick Diedrich’s bat for a foul ball. Jablonski bounced back to strike him out. He induced a grounder for the second out, taking him past the 85-pitch threshold.

Fellow lefty Georgi entered and walked 11-hitter Charlie Haenn, then let him reach second base on a wild pitch. But he got Saleski to ground out to short, one of six cleanly taken infield outs by the team from Texas.

Media certainly had the advantage in the stands among the announced attendance of 15,072 spectators, having traveled 178 miles to Williamsport as opposed to the 1,581 miles to Needville, as proudly displayed in the Fan Zone. From the smattering of Phillies gear to the abundance of “Delco vs. the World” shirts printed by Broomall-based B & E Sportswear, the noise advantage was evident in the chants of “Me-di-a” trying to will the offense in the latter innings.

AJ Domenico bounced back quickly in the field to start the game. He booted a grounder off the bat of McRae to start the game, but after Crowley got a strikeout, Domenico snared a liner and snapped a throw to first to double off McRae to end the first.

Jablonski escaped trouble in the bottom of the second when Domenico led off with a double and Nunez followed with a single. He would move up to second on Muessig’s fly ball to right. But Jablonski got back-to-back strikeouts to end the threat.

Crowley had to do the same the next half-inning. Jakolby White reached on an infield single that third baseman Diedrich might have been able to retire him on had he come up with it cleanly. Crowley got a strikeout before Michael Raven singled and Cade Hammonds walked. But Saleski saved the day, scooping the ricochet of a high fastball off the backstop and diving to tag White before he could slide in safely.

Nolan Gratton worked around a leadoff walk in the top of the fifth in relief of Crowley with a pair of strikeouts. Hammonds singled in the sixth but was erased when Diedrich gloved a liner and threw across the diamond to double him off.

The loss is Media’s first of the summer in its 15 games, the District 19 and Section 8 champ running unbeaten through four tournaments. The recipe for change in its fifth and highest profile tournament doesn’t change.

“We just show up and play baseball,” Bradley said. “I’m not going to teach them anything in two days to get better. We just have to have them get their heads up. We made it here; that’s the key thing.”