Valiant effort not enough for RiverDogs
San Gabriel Valley 4 RiverDogs 2
NEWARK, Ohio - The Columbia Basin RiverDogs didn't keep alive their dream of a national championship Thursday night, but they did raise a few eyebrows among their opponents.
The RiverDogs played well in all aspects and hung tough with the defending champions from San Gabriel Valley, Calif., before falling 4-2 in the semifinals of the Babe Ruth World Series at Don Edwards Park.
San Gabriel Valley advanced to today's championship at 7 p.m. EST, where it faces Denham Springs, La., a 3-1 winner over Louisville, Ky., in Thursday's other semifinal. The RiverDogs, who finished the season with a 46-16 overall record, 2-4 in Newark, shared third place with Louisville.
"I'm really proud of these kids," Basin manager Randy Boruff said. "We deserved that third-place trophy."
The Californians had barely broken a sweat in their first four World Series games - including a 5-0 win over the Dogs in pool play - but got everything they could handle Thursday. San Gabriel manager Phil Torres was quick to compliment the opposition.
"The nice thing about this team is that they play the game the right way," Torres said. "Not necessarily everybody here does."
Basin's Zack Swart and San Gabriel's Rob Rasmussen matched zeroes through the first three innings, but Swart made a major mistake with one on and one out in the fourth. First baseman Dustin Emmons crushed Swart's first offering deep over the left-field fence, giving San Gabriel a 2-0 lead.
"He hung a curveball and the guy was sitting on it," Boruff said of the play. "One thing about it, it was not cheap."
San Gabriel added a third run before the frame was done as Kevin Roundtree singled and speedy Daniel Park tripled to the left-field gap.
Swart still put forth a solid outing, holding a high-powered offense to seven hits in four innings. He had no strikeouts, but no walks either.
"He did an excellent job hitting his spots, keeping them off-balance," catcher Edward Rodriguez said of Swart. "Every single time he was struggling, he seemed to battle back."
Down 3-0, the Dogs could've folded, but that simply wasn't the attitude they chose to take.
Cory Hitchcock reached on a throwing error to begin the sixth, and Rodriguez ripped a fastball over the wall in left to narrow the Dogs' deficit to 3-2.
Rodriguez, a Warden native who's bound for Wenatchee Valley Community College next year, finished the World Series with a .350 average, two homers and six RBIs.
"He was the heart and soul of our outfit," Boruff said of Rodriguez, "and I just hope when the voting comes out he's the (first team) All-World Series catcher."
Torres agreed.
"I told the catcher between innings, anytime he wants to come to California, he can use me as a reference," Torres said with a laugh. "He's a good player and he plays hard."
Basin had the momentum after Rodriguez's shot, but quickly surrendered some of it in the bottom of the sixth. Justin Burton's throwing error put leadoff hitter Corwin Kim on base, and he scored when second baseman Austin Chamberlin let a potential double-play grounder slither under his glove.
Chris Sattler, who took over for Swart in the fifth, singled to start the RiverDogs' seventh. But San Gabriel closer Nick Kennedy wrapped things up, striking out Colby Melburn and getting Swart to bounce into a 6-4-3 twin killing.
Rasmussen, who will play college ball at UCLA next year, struck out seven and allowed six hits in six innings. He spotted all his pitches well and simply overmatched some of Basin's hitters with his high-80s fastball.
"He's a special kid," Torres said of Rasmussen. "He's from a small school in L.A., so this is great. He gets to play good competition and he's just a battler."
Still, the Dogs missed a couple golden chances to score more off San Gabriel's star hurler.
In the fourth, JR Jarrell and Rodriguez singled and advanced into scoring position with two outs. Marc Garza chopped a ball to third, where Roundtree made a tremendous play to charge in and gun down Garza by an eyelash.
In the fifth, Basin again put runners at second and third with two outs. Rasmussen escaped again as Swart popped out.
While the season ended two wins shy of the ultimate prize, Boruff had nothing but praise for his kids.
"The future looks very bright," he said, noting that four of the team's six pitchers should return. "We have a ton of young kids coming up that are gonna be good, that are quality guys."
The program will lose several veterans like Rodriguez, a four-year Senior Babe Ruth player who said he learned a lot.
"It was an awesome experience," he said of his career. "High school was the basics, but summer ball is the place where you get the most training, the most coaching."