EASLEY—Indiana, the Central Region champion, scored three runs in the first inning and had runs in four of its next five innings en route to a 11-2 victory over East champion New Jersey Monday night in its final tuneup before Tuesday’s semifinals of the Big League World Series at the JB “Red” Owens Recreation Complex.
The Central champion finished US pool play with a perfect 4-0 record and will play the Easley-based host team in the US semi-final round at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Indiana opened play July 25, edging Easley 1-0. New Jersey finished the series with a 1-3 record.
In the International semifinal, Puerto Rico, 4-0, meets Venezuela, 3-1. The winners of the two semi-final games play each other for the Big League World Series championship at 8 p.m. Wednesday in a game televised on ESPN2 and ESPN3.com.
Indiana jumped on top in the bottom of the second when Charles Sipe had a lead-off single and scored on a sacrifice fly by Jake Weber to give Indiana a 1-0 lead. Evan VanSumeren was hit by a pitch and Andre Jurnigan walked. Van Sumeren advanced to third on Weber’s sacrifice fly and Jernigan stole second. Both scored a single by Will Coursen-Carr to take a 3-0 lead.
Austin Plasterer gave Indiana a 4-0 lead scoring on a wild pitch in the second inning. Grant Wilson doubled and scored on a single by Elliott Ford in the third to give the Central champions a 5-0 advantage.
After neither team scored in the fourth, New Jersey got a run from Justin Geri in the top of the fifth to cut the lead to 5-1. Indiana came back with four runs in the bottom of the fifth to go up 9-1. Vaughn Watson scored for New Jersey to cut the lead to 9-2, but Indiana responded with two more runs in the bottom of the sixth, including a home run by Keaston Jackson to take an 11-2 lead. New Jersey threatened with two on base in the seventh, but Indiana got a double play to end the game.
Ford led Indiana with three hits, two RBI and scored a run.
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