River Dogs win, 4-2

COVINGTON COUNTY, Ala. - The Columbia Basin River Dogs opened the Babe Ruth 18U World Series with a win over Fond Du Lac, Wisc. 4-2.

Koleman Johns led the way for the River Dogs pitching a complete game, striking out 11 batters and only allowing 2 runs.

Johns took a no-hitter into the sixth inning before Fond Du Lac was able to touch him up for a couple runs.

Head coach Randy Boruff looked for Johns to start out the tournament strongly for the team and he delivered.

"He throws 85, 86, 87 with some good stuff," he said. "He would compete against anybody here."

The River Dogs were able to take the lead in the bottom of the third after scoring 3 runs and added an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth.

Chandler Gribble drove in the lone RBI. The club was able to take advantage of Fond Du Lac mistakes and scored 3 runs on throwing errors.

Mitch Darlington, Drew Loreta and Kyle Weiler also added base hits.

Although the team was able to start the tournament with a win, Boruff thought they didn't play their best baseball.

A hectic travel schedule and jet lag could have contributed to the uneven play.

The team also didn't receive their uniforms until 8 a.m. Thursday morning, but Boruff didn't want to make any excuses.

"The main thing was we won," he said.

Boruff was unsure if the pressure of the World Series factored into the overall play of the team, but thought any pressure that existed subsided when the team led throughout the ball game.

"I know one thing, we weren't feeling that way (pressure) when it was 4-0 going into the sixth inning," he said.

The River Dogs' next opponent is the New England Champion from Cape Cod, Mass. The game is scheduled for today at 8 a.m. Pacific Standard Time.

Hector Zavala will be on the bump for game two.

Boruff said that his team will have to improve to beat Cape Cod.

"I think we need to do a little better job of clutching up and putting the big part of the bat on the ball," he said.