Little League Junior All-Stars: Dixon Eliminated With 7-4 Defeat to Davis American

The Dixon Juniors All-Star team could sniff another comeback in the works Tuesday against the Davis American All-Stars, but couldn’t repeat .

Dixon managed to load the bases with nobody out in the top of the seventh inning, but failed to get any runs across the board, and was eliminated with a 7-4 defeat at Vacaville’s John Arlington Park.

“I think we just couldn’t get the runs across,” Dixon manager Eric Foster said. “They got up on us early.”

Dixon grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning when Joe Quintanilla drove in Brett Nielsen from third with a double to left, but the advantage was short-lived.

Dixon starter Mark Eldridge recorded the first two outs of the bottom half of the third with ease but allowed a single to Eric Ade and then back-to-back walks to load the bases. Eldridge would walk-in Nate Curtis to tie the game, and Chris Abel would follow that with a single to right, bringing in Noel Parente and Bailey Karrow, giving Davis a 3-1 lead.

Dixon would chip away at the Davis lead by scoring one run in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, but was matched in the bottom half of each frame it scored in.

Davis starting pitcher Pierce Tujo went 6+ innings, and allowed four runs on six hits before being pulled after loading the bases in the top of the seventh. Curtis would come in to close out the game and record the save after striking out Brett Bello and Eldridge before getting Butler to fly out to center to end the game.

“They played a good game, we played a good game,” Foster said. “They just came out on top. It’s the way it goes.”

A total of seven balks were called in Tuesday’s game, something Foster felt made a difference.

“I hate to complain about umpiring but there was about five balk calls on us,” he said. “We haven’t had five balks all year. It went from a two-run lead to a three-run lead, so it makes a big difference.”

Second base umpire Jim West called the majority of the balks. He said that Davis’ Tujo was pitching straight from a paused position and not from a set position, and that Dixon’s Eldridge was flinching his right leg toward the plate.  Both moves constitute balks, allowing opposing base runners to move up one base. Eldridge was called for three balks in Davis’ two-run fifth inning, one that allowed a run to score.

A full list of what constitutes a balk can be found on Major League Baseball’s Website.

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