On the first day of the Dunn Parks and Recreation Majors (12-and-under) baseball tournament, short-handed Mosquito Joe’s held off Archie’s Appliance 3-2 on Monday at the Nathan Harris Athletic Complex at Tyler Park on Carlie C’s IGA Field to advance to Tuesday’s championship game.
Mosquito Joe’s played with just eight players.
Starter Jamari Thompson was the winning pitcher for Mosquito Joe’s, yielding one earned run on three hits and two walks, with 10 strikeouts, in three and two-thirds innings. Braxton Davis pitched one-third of an inning, with one strikeout, to record the save.
Davis had two hits, including a double, and two runs scored in the win. Jalen Evans had one hit and one run scored. Hayden Campbell had one hit. Landon Hammond and Tristan Wood had one RBI apiece for Mosquito Joe’s.
For Archie’s Appliance, Gabe Dapuyen had a double and an RBI. Tripp Westbrook and Andre’ Harps each had one hit and one run scored. Shane Hayes Wallace had one RBI.
Evans and Davis led off the game with back-to-back base hits before Evans scored when Thompson reached on an error. After Dale Martin drew a two-out walk to load the bases, Wood drew another walk to score Davis to give Mosquito Joe’s the early 2-0 lead.
Westbrook led off the bottom of the first inning with a base hit and scored on a double from Dapuyen to cut the lead to 2-1.
In the fourth, Davis doubled, Thompson reached on an error and Campbell singled to load the bases. Davis then scored when Hammond hit into a fielder’s choice.
That insurance run proved to be necessary, as Harps singled with two out in the bottom of the fourth, advanced on a pair of wild pitches and scored when Wallace reached on an error. Two more wild pitches put Wallace, the potential tying run, on third, but Davis rallied with a strikeout to end the inning and the game was called on the time limit.
Mosquito Joe’s will meet regular season champion First Federal Bank in the tournament championship Tuesday at 6 p.m.