Eastern Regional Recap: Winner's Bracket Final Set

It's Elimination Monday at the Senior League Eastern Regional, as six teams are playing for a chance at getting into the elimination bracket final Tuesday afternoon.

Here's what happened Sunday to set up the action today:

Maryland 10, Connecticut 0
Maryland pitchers Dustin Jones and Tayvon Blake combined on the second no-hitter ever at the Eastern Regional's time in West Deptford, in a 10-0 mercy-rule win over Connecticut Sunday.

The two pitchers faces just one batter more than the minimum, with Jones working the first 4-1/3 innings before being pulled due to pitch count. Blake came on afterward and struck out two of the three batters he faced to close it out. Jones struck out nine and did not issue a walk.

Maryland also gets Jones back on the mound Wednesday or Thursday, as his pitch count was limited to just 58.

The only other no-hitter thrown at the regional was by Michael Mussafer of Weston, MA two years ago, a seven inning no-hitter against Connecticut.

Maryland will face Massachusetts in the winner’s bracket final Tuesday at 8 p.m. Connecticut will face an opponent to be determined in an elimination bracket game Monday at 7:30 p.m.

Massachusetts 8, Delaware 3
Massachusetts' Andrew Jehnig launched a two-run homer in the first and the team's pitchers did the rest as the New Englanders remained unbeaten in the Senior League Eastern Regional with an 8-3 win over Delaware Sunday night.

Massachusetts pitcher Tom Garland allowed just one hit in the first four innings, and Andrew Currie worked the final three innings for the victory. Massachusetts hadn’t allowed an earned run in the tournament before the final inning Sunday night.

Jaehnig and Pat Verhault each had three hits to lead the Massachusetts offense. Verhault slugged a two-run double as part of a four-run fourth that gave Quincy a commanding 7-0 lead.

Delaware falls into the loser's bracket, and will take on the winner of Monday afternoon’s game between Rhode Island and New York.

New York 11, New Jersey 7
New Jersey champs Freehold bowed out in the quickest fashion of any NJ champ in the past decade, losing to New York, which rallied from an early 5-0 deficit to win Sunday.

Nick Hanley came on to pitch four innings in relief to earn the win for New York. Hanley allowed three hits and one run in the four innings to hold off New Jersey while the offense got going for New York.

Trailing 6-2 in the fourth, New York score batted around and scored five runs to take the lead. Mike Rasatelli, who went 3-for-4 to lead the New York offense, had one of five hits in the inning.

Freehold finished the regional 0-2, marking the first time a New Jersey state champ had been eliminated in West Deptford in two games. New Jersey teams had a 34-game winning streak and had won 10 consecutive regional titles–including three by Freehold during that span–entering this year.