Chandler and Fort Caroline will go head to head Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Demopolis Sportsplex at the conclusion of the 14U Babe Ruth World Series Championship. The two teams hail from Arizona and Florida respectively, with Chandler representing the Pacific Southwest region and Fort Caroline representing the Southeast region.

KLECKER, KREI SEND CHANDLER IN CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

 Pitcher Kole Klecker and center fielder Logan Krei provided a solid 1-2 punch in leading Chandler (Arizona) to 5-0 win over Eagle Pass (Texas) in the semifinals of the 2019 Babe Ruth World Series at the Demopolis SportsPlex.

Chandler (5-0) will play in the championship game on Thursday at 6 p.m. (CT).

Klecker (2-0) hurled a complete-game shutout and Krei collected three hits, one run scored and one RBI in the win.

Klecker, making his second start of the World Series, held Eagle Pass to three singles over seven innings.  He struck out four and walked one batter. Klecker retired Eagle Pass in order in the first, fourth and seventh innings. Kelcker also went 1-for3 with one run scored and one RBI to earn the Ron Tellefsen Player of the Game Award. 

Krei was the sparkplug on offense. He was 3-for-3 with one run scored, one triple and one RBI. He collected a hit in all three innings in which Chandler scored a run.

Krei jump started the offense with a leadoff triple in the bottom of the second inning. He later scored on Jacob Espinoza’s sacrifice fly to give Chandler a 1-0 lead.

Chandler added two unearned runs in third inning as Eagle Pass committed three errors by three different infielders.

Ryan Kucherak reached on an error by second baseman Luis Kancheff. Cooper Brass followed with a single up the middle to put runners at first and second. Josh Tiedemann reached on a fielder’s choice Kucherak advanced to third and scored on throwing error by shortstop Robert De La Garza. Klecker reached on an error by third baseman Derek Ruiz, with Brass scoring on the play.

Chandler extended the lead to 5-0 with a pair of runs in the fifth inning. Klecker stroked a one-out single to left, stole second base and scored on Krei’s RBI single to left. Alex McLaughin plated Krei with an RBI groundout later in the inning.

Eagle Pass (4-2), who struggled on offense against Klecker, managed only three singles by Juan Martinez, Aidan Lopez and Luis Kancheff. Lopez won the Ron Tellefsen Player of the Game Award.

Eagle Pass lone scoring threats came in the fifth and sixth innings. They had two runners on with no outs in the fifth, but Klecker worked out of the jam, striking out Donovan Becerra to end the inning. Eagle Pass had two on with one out in the sixth but a double play ended the threat, when Krei caught a fly ball in center and threw out Isaac Stanwick, who attempted to tag, at third base.

FORT CAROLINE HOLDS OFF BROOMALL-NEWTOWN TO ADVANCE

 After posting three run-rule wins in pool play, Fort Caroline found itself in unfamiliar territory in the final inning against Broomall-Newtown in the second semifinal game at the 2019 Babe Ruth World Series at the Demopolis SportsPlex.

Fort Carolina escaped a seventh-inning jam to post a 3-2 win to advance to Thursday’s championship game against Chandler (Arizona) at 6 p.m. (CT). Chandler defeated Eagle Pass 5-0 in the first semifinal game on Wednesday.

Fort Caroline (5-0) held a one-run lead with one out in the seventh inning and the tying run at third base. Relief pitcher William Rollings, who moved over from third base, bounced a 3-2 fastball in the dirt that squirted past catcher Malachi Witherspoon. Justin Brennen, the runner at third broke for home, but the ball hit the backstop and bounced back to Witherspoon. Brennen froze on the base path and Witherspoon tossed the ball Brett Dennis for the second out of the inning.

Despite the momentum swing, Broomall-Newtown got another two-out hit from Alex Bruno to put runners on the corners with two outs. Rollings then got Jonny Small to fly out to Jesus De Jesus to end the game.

Rollings earned the one-inning save for the undefeated Southeast Regional champions.

Fort Caroline scored all three of its runs in the third inning against Jake Micewski.

Micewski (1-1) took the loss on the mound. He worked five innings and allowed three runs and five hits with four strikeouts and four walks.

Rollings drew a leadoff walk and Holden Bradshaw followed with a bunt single. Dennis then walked to load the bases. Rollins then scored on wild pitch to make it 1-0 and Parker Sedgwick followed with a bunt single to score Bradshaw with the second run. Malachi Witherspoon had a safety squeeze bunt that scored Dennis to extend the lead to 3-0.

Broomall-Newtown (4-2) answered with one run on three hits in the top of the fourth inning to cut the deficit to 3-1. Alex Bruno led off the inning and lined a single into center field for the first hit of the game. Micewski helped his own cause with a one-out single to center. Josh Freiling delivered a two-out RBI single to left to score Bruno.

The Mid-Atlantic champions added another run in the fifth inning with another two-out RBI.

Gavin Doney led off the inning with a base hit to chase starter Parker Sedgwick. Dennis came in out of the pen and retired the first two batters before he allowed a two-out base hit to Bruno to cut the deficit to 3-2.

Bruno was the star for Broomall-Newtown, going 3-for-4 with one run scored and one RBI. He was named the Ron Tellefsen Player of the Game Award.

Sedgwick (2-0) picked up the win for Fort Caroline. He worked four-plus innings and allowed two runs and four hits with three strikeouts and no walks. He was also 1-for-2 with one RBI and one walk to earn the Ron Tellefsen Player of the Game Award.

Championship Series Schedule:

Thursday, Aug. 15

2019 Babe Ruth World Series Championship Game (6 PM)

Chandler (Arizona) vs. Fort Caroline (Florida)

Wednesday, Aug. 14

Chandler (Ariz.) 5, Eagle Pass (Texas) 0

Fort Caroline 3, Broomall-Newtown 2

Tuesday, August 13

Eagle Pass (Texas) 7, Jeffersontown (Ky.) 6 (8 Innings)

Broomall-Newtown (Penn.) 3, West Linn (Ore.) 2