FARMINGTON – Heading into championship weekend as the only team with a perfect record in the Connie Mack World Series, D-Bat put an exclamation point on their expectations with a dominant 8-1 win Thursday night at Ricketts Park over the Dulins Dodgers Americans.
The Thursday night finale paired the two remaining teams with a perfect record in bracket play this week. Both the winner and loser from this game were guaranteed a spot in Friday’s fifth round.
In the end, there was little doubt as to the team with the momentum and unblemished record was going to be.
Leading the offense for D-Bat with three RBIs apiece were Brady Morgeson and Xander Thacker. Joshua Viars was 2-for-5 at the dish with a triple, a double, a run scored and an RBI.
At first glance, the clash between D-Bat and the Americans seemed to be a defensive showdown. Americans pitcher Jack Snakenberg escaped the first couple of innings despite having traffic on the basepaths, needing 41 pitches to get the first six outs.
The Americans got on the board in the bottom of the second inning. Mason Fritz connected on a 1-0 pitch from D-Bat starter Garner Rodriguez and drove it over the right field wall for a solo home run.
The lead was short-lived and was never regained.
D-Bat answered back in the top of the third inning after a leadoff triple by Talon Pate was cashed in when Jordan Andrews singled in the tying run.
Jake Felsman gave D-Bat their first lead of the game when he was driven off the bat of Viars, who flew out to deep right field, making it a 2-1 score headed to the bottom of the third inning.
Rodriguez settled in nicely on the mound for D-Bat as the game progressed. Through four innings, he had recorded seven strikeouts including four of the eight batters he faced in the third and fourth innings.
The decisive blow came in the top of the fourth inning. With Sean Millimet on the mound for the Nationals, D-Bat third baseman Xander Thacker drove a 3-2 pitch to the wall in centerfield for a triple, scoring Oliver Minyard, Brock Burkett and Felsman to put the D-Bat squad up 5-1. Thacker later scored on an RBI single by Brady Morgeson for a 6-1 advantage.
Thacker has played himself into the role as one of the favorites for this year’s most valuable player of the tourney. From Boswell High School and recently committed to Navarro College, Thacker is hitting .538 this week with nine RBIs and a pair of home runs, including the game-winning blast Tuesday night in an improbable win over the Marlins.
Minyard and Felsman scored again in the top of the seventh inning thanks to a single to right from Morgeson to pad the D-Bat lead.
Rodriguez capped off the victory with Fritz grounding into a double play, handing the Americans their first loss of the tournament. He finished the game having thrown 93 pitches, giving up two hits and three walks and striking out nine for what is the only 7-inning, complete-game tossed by a pitcher this week.