BANGOR — The Rose Capital East Little League all-stars from Tyler, Texas, reached the Senior League World Series semifinals in 2007.
Four years later, that same program has done one better and, after Friday’s 10-5 semifinal victory over defending champion San Nicolas, Aruba, at Mansfield Stadium, is one win away from earning a world title.
“It’s a lifetime dream,” said Texas shortstop Seth Gibson. “This was our goal, we wanted to make the World Series, but first of all we had to make the championship.
“We ain’t done yet. We’re going to win this thing.”
Texas will take a 5-0 SLWS record into Saturday’s 2 p.m. championship game against Hilo, Hawaii, which defeated Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy, 10-0 in five innings in Friday’s second semifinal.
Aruba ended its tournament run with a 3-2 record.
“(Texas) was hitting the ball, and their team spirit was high,” said Chadwick Tromp, one of five players back from Aruba’s 2010 championship team. “But the big thing was their situational hitting was great. When they were in scoring position, every time they got a hit.”
Jacob Spitzer paced the Texans’ 13-hit attack with a double and two singles, while Sawyer Dorsey tripled and singled, Tanner Bandel doubled and singled and Mason Mallard and winning pitcher Cade Suggs singled twice apiece.
That display came less than a day after the Texans pounded out 12 hits in their 10-0 victory over host Brewer.
“It feels really good when you go in against the hometown team and 10-run them in five innings. It gives you momentum going into probably one of the biggest games of all of our lives,” said Spitzer.
Suggs and three relievers combined to scatter nine hits while allowing just one seventh-inning walk.
“My arm was a little hurting before the game,” said Suggs, a lefthander who worked the first 4⅔ innings. “I knew all I had to do was throw strikes because I knew the defense was going to help me out.”
Texas snapped a 1-1 tie and took the lead for good with a four-run second inning capped off by Spitzer’s two-out, two-run double to right-center. Dorsey led off with an infield hit and was sacrificed to second by Jacob Wadle. Braden Nelson then reached on an error before Suggs followed with an opposite-field single to left to give the U.S. Southwest champions a 2-1 lead.
Bandel hustled out a bunt single to load the bases, then Gibson followed with a sacrifice fly to right before Spitzer drove the ball into the gap between the center and right fielders to extend the Texas lead to 5-1.
“I just saw a first-pitch fastball that was inside in my spot,” said Spitzer. “I went with it into the right-center field alley and honestly thought the center fielder was going to catch it, but he didn’t.”
Aruba halved its deficit an inning later on Tromp’s two-run, two-out double to left-center. Marvin Brown hit a leadoff double down the right-field line and Jason Gysbertha followed with a bunt single, but Suggs got the next two batters to ground out to Dorsey at third before Tromp found the gap in left-center to narrow the gap to 5-3.
But Dorsey greeted reliever Jadimir Kwidama with a two-run triple and Bandel welcomed a second Aruba reliever in the inning, Pedro Rangel, with a two-run double to highlight a five-run rally in the bottom of the fifth as Texas took a commanding 10-3 lead.
Spitzer started the uprising with an infield single down the third-base line and went to second on a throwing error before Mallard — the final batter faced by Aruba starter Eugene Helder — drew a one-out walk.
Dorsey hit the first pitch he saw to the right-center field gap to make it 7-3, and Nelson followed one out later with his RBI single.
“They just changed pitchers and coach told me if I get a first pitch to hit to mash it,” said Dorsey. “If not, just take the one strike, but he threw me the pitch I wanted.”
Suggs singled to right to put runners on first and third, and Bandel brought them both home with a shot down the left-field line.
Helder hit a two-run double in the top of the sixth as Aruba scored a pair of unearned runs to draw within 10-5.
Helder and Gysbertha each had two hits for Aruba.
Latin America 100 022 — 5 9 2
U.S. Southwest 140 050 x — 10 13 4
Helder, Kwidama (5), Rangel (5), Imperator (6) and Tromp; Suggs, Nelson (5), Klassen (7) and Mallard
