LA VERNE LITTLE LEAGUE: Tigers Edge Phillies, 4-3, Keep Championship Hopes Alive

Adrian Bejarano earned a tough 4-3 victory for the Tigers. Also providing the pitching power for Tigers were Joe De Fina and Matt Kurnick.

La Verne Little League’s Detroit Tigers made Logan Zylstra’s 2-run homer in the bottom of third and Nick Ciauri’s two-run single in the bottom of the fourth stand up as the Motown Mashers defeated the Phillies 4-3 to earn another chance to play the Giants in the Major Division tournament finals this Thursday at Pelota Park.

For the first two innings of the contest, it was a pitchers’ duel between the Tigers’ Adrian Bejarano and the Phillies’ Will Guerra. Then with two outs in the bottom of the third, Zylstra put the Tigers in front with his homer that just cleared the left-field fence. “I got it off the handle,” Zylstra said after the game. Bejarano helped his own cause by doubling earlier in the inning.

In the bottom of the fourth, it was Ciauri coming up with the cluth hit, slapping a solid single on the first pitch he saw to put the Tigers up 4-0. Joe De Fina and Justin Ornelas had singled earlier in the inning to set the table for the clutch Ciauri. The Tigers might have had more in the inning but the Phillies’ Myles Campbell speared a hot line drive off the bat of Jacob Miller to start a double play and end the threat.

The smart defensive play seemed to trigger a comeback by the Phillies, who scored two in the top of the fifth and another run in the top of the sixth but stranded the tying run at third, allowing the Tigers to escape with the narrow 4-3 victory. For the Phillies, Nolan O’Laughlin and Will Guerra each collected two hits.