ALEX MULLER/Sun-Gazette Keystone correspondent Aiden Jones throws during a game Monday against Wisconsin in Taylor, Michigan.
ALEX MULLER/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Keystone’s Austin Frank swings at a pitch during Monday’s Junior Leauge Baseball World Series game against Wisconsin in Taylor, Michigan. Keystone won, 13-1, to advance to Wednesday night’s game at 8 p.m
ALEX MULLER/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Keystone’s Hayes Miller moves on a pitch during Monday’s Junior League Baseball World Series against Wisconsin in Taylor, Michigan.
ALEX MULLER/Sun-Gazette Keystone correspondent Aiden Jones throws during a game Monday against Wisconsin in Taylor, Michigan.
TAYLOR, Mich. – Almost a week after winning Little League Baseball’s first East Regional title for the state of Pennsylvania, the Keystone Little League team began its World Series journey in Junior League Baseball Monday at Heritage Park in Taylor, Michigan.
After receiving a bye, Keystone faced Central Region representatives Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin. A strong offensive start allowed the home team to set the tone early en route to a 13-1 win over Wisconsin.
“It’s really great to see (this kind of start)” Keystone coach Steve Shade said after the win. “It’s really great for the kids to come out here, in this atmosphere with all these people, and still know it’s just a baseball game.
“It’s really important for us to come out and have a game like this to boost our confidence.”
Keystone was out and running in the top of the first inning. Two leadoff walks were erased by a double play, but two-out hits by Watt Probst, Aiden Jones and Hayes Miller put Keystone up 3-0 ahead of Whitefish Bay.
ALEX MULLER/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Keystone’s Austin Frank swings at a pitch during Monday’s Junior Leauge Baseball World Series game against Wisconsin in Taylor, Michigan. Keystone won, 13-1, to advance to Wednesday night’s game at 8 p.m
That early lead doubled to a six-run cushion in the top of the second with Probst dropping in on a two-out single followed by a bases-loaded walk to Jones two batters later.
The bottom of the third was definitely the difference in the game. After tossing two scoreless for Keystone, starter Jones issued back-to-back walks to Wisconsin batters to start the third.
Jones was replaced by Darius Shade, who after a single to the first batter he faced issued his own walk with the bases loaded. That allowed Charlie McIntyre to score, putting Wisconsin on the board for what would be its only run of the game.
But Shade settled in and forced three flyball outs to get out of the jam.
“That’s always great when you can come out of a situation like that and just give up a run,” said the shadow. “Darius came in and really sorted things out, which is why I brought him in to work.
ALEX MULLER/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Keystone’s Hayes Miller moves on a pitch during Monday’s Junior League Baseball World Series against Wisconsin in Taylor, Michigan.
“Today we played very well on defense, making a couple of double plays” Added drop shadow. “We ran the bases well, played every facet of the game very well here today.”
Perhaps building on that momentum from escaping more damage in the previous half inning, Keystone poured in three more runs in the top of the fourth. That rally was highlighted by a two-out, two-run home run by Jones to make it 9-1. Cross had a sacrifice fly in the previous at-bat.
“We had good approaches to the plate,” said the shadow. “1-13, there were good approaches the whole game. My middle guys, I tell them to wait for their pitch and adjust and that’s what we do.”
The East made the win even more lopsided with four runs in the top of the sixth. Probst homered with an RBI hit while Jones, Austin Andrus and Josh Ludlow scored on Wisconsin fielding errors, with a ball off the bat of Austin Frank.
Keystone is the seventh team from the state of Pennsylvania to appear in the Junior League World Series, the first since 2017 when Kennett Square went 3-1 in the event, good for a runner-up finish.
With Keystone’s win today, Pennsylvania is now 12-11 all-time in the JLWS.
Next up for Steve Shade’s group is a Wednesday night game at 8pm against the winner of Monday night’s game between Corpus Christi, Texas (Southwest Region) and Honolulu, Hawaii (Region from the west).
A win Wednesday would put Keystone in the championship game on the U.S. side of the bracket. Shade faced adversity on its way to Heritage Park, starting with a run through the consolation bracket en route to a fourth state title for this particular group of players.
They then went unscathed in the East Regional, outscoring their opponents 34-16 in four games.
Shade knows there is still a long way to go for his team to become the first Pennsylvania team to win a JLWS title. But after a convincing opening win from start to finish and his track record of endurance, the skipper is feeling optimistic.
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