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American Legion World Series
Day 2
By John Royster
Yakima, Wash.
August 26, 2001
GAME 5
Brooklawn, N.J. 6, Milford, Mass. 2
For the second straight day the bottom of the eighth inning proved to be magic for Brooklawn, which broke a 2-2 tie on first baseman Andrew Noe's three-run homer. Second baseman Bill Boyer added an RBI double to finish the scoring. Lefthander Justin Mendek pitched a complete game for Brooklawn, scattering nine hits and a walk while striking out three.
GAME 6
Omaha 8, Danville, Calif. 7 (11 innings)
Second baseman Todd Jansen's squeeze bunt scored right fielder Jimmy Hinrichs with the winning run, but the real story was how Danville lost. The Hoots, the defending national champions, committed four errors, including one that put Hinrichs on base in the 11th. They also left a tournament-record 20 runners on base. The loss broke a 16-game winning streak in the regionals and World Series by Danville, which last lost in the 1999 Northwest regional semifinals to Kennewick, Wash. And it was the first of three straight games that were lost by the vanquished far more than won by the victors.
GAME 7
Lewiston, Idaho 11, Napoleon, Ohio 10
Napoleon committed three errors in the bottom of the ninth, blowing a 10-7 lead. The winning run scored when reserve right fielder Markus Black nearly collided with center fielder Kyle Penrod and missed shortstop Derek Bruce's fly ball. The River Bandits allowed nine runs, five unearned, in the last three innings after leading 8-2 through six.
GAME 8
Midwest City, Okla. 9, Albany, Ga. 5
Albany committed seven errors in all, and Midwest City's tying and go-ahead runs in the bottom of the seventh were unearned. Shortstop Josh O'Dell's three-run homer in the eighth, his second in two World Series games, put the game out of reach.
Saturday's games put Brooklawn and Lewiston in the driver's seat for spots in the semifinals. Each had a 2-0 record to lead its bracket in the Olympic-format tournament. Milford, Omaha, Danville and Midwest City all were 1-1. The round-robin portion of the event ends Sunday, with the semifinals Monday and finals Tuesday.
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