Now, the stakes just got higher.
The Lumberjacks are moving on to the National Youth Baseball Championships in Memphis, Tennessee. Their ticket was punched after getting past the Mississippi Royals, 6-2."We didn't even fathom that we would win this thing," said Lumberjacks coach Johnny Yates. "We weren't expecting it, but we didn't come to lose."
Winning, of course, is easier when your ace is on the mound. All- Tournament selection Perry Harris pitched a complete game the Royals, the top seed coming into championship-round play."We've been riding him all year," Yates said. "He throws hard; he throws a cutter, but the kid loves this game. There's probably not a better kid in the state as far as you can't have a better teammate. He's almost like another coach on the field."
Harris looked on with delight as the Lumberjacks broke a 2-2 deadlock with four runs in the tops of the sixth inning. The big blow was Gardner Minshew's bases-clearing double. The two-bagger was poetic justice for Minshew, who struck out with bases loaded in the fourth. The hit also brought a smile to the face of Yates. '
"We just wanted to het on base and manufacture a run somehow," he said. "This was an effort, no doubt."
An RBI single from Bryan Cruse helped the Royals rally in the fifth.
"Perry Harris is a really good pitcher," said Royals coach Gary Blaylack, "so I was proud of them for battling back. We just ran out of gas in that last inning."
The Lumberjacks had taken a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning following a home run to left by Jacob Wilcher, who garnered All-Tournament recognition along with Harris, Minshew and Jim Speights.
At the NYBC, the Lumberjacks will play back-to-back games Aug. 28 against the Dixie and Babe Ruth champions. The next night, they'll meet the AAU representative.
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