Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly referred to the Cubs as the Shaw Dental Cubs. They are the Les Schwab Tire Center Cubs. The article has been updated to reflect the change.
Last Tuesday, the Les Schwab Tire Center Cubs advanced to the Gastineau Channel Little League Major Division championship game with a wild 23-22 walk-off win.
Fast forward four days and more late-game heroics were in store for the Cubs as they took on the Larry’s Quality Heating & Plumbing Mariners on Saturday afternoon at Miller Field.
Moments after hitting an RBI single to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth inning, Sean Oliver stole home to give the Cubs a walk-off 4-3 win over the Mariners.
“The boys played hard all season long, and that’s the truth, and it showed on Tuesday’s game, we battled back,” Cubs manager Gilbert Mendoza said. “We’ve been down more than two; the boys knew what they had to do.”
Cubs pitcher Thomas Baxter threw three no-hit innings and fanned nine batters. Mariners pitcher Antone Araujo was also impressive with 11 strikeouts.
After struggling to score runs most of the game, the Mariners made things interesting in the sixth. Rory Hayes doubled to right field and easily scored Kasen Ludeman to knot the game at 2-2.
With Hayes representing the go-ahead run, hanging out on second base, the Cubs walked three of the next four Mariners batters and Connor Green’s RBI walk put the Mariners up 3-2.
“We knew when we got Thomas (Baxter) out of there we were in a good spot in the lineup and it worked out perfect for us,” Mariners manager Jason Hart said. “We just kind of dropped the ball on defense when we went back out there. It’s one of those things, it’s not going to be their last loss. They’ll win more and they’ll lose more.”
The Cubs took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning. Ezra Vidal tripled and scored on Joey Ramseth’s sacrifice bunt. Ramseth later scored on a sacrifice grounder.
The Cubs, who finished the regular season at 10-10-1, defeated the Giants 5-2 in the first round before eliminating the Angels with their wild walk off.
The Mariners — who finished the regular season tied with the Giants with the most wins at 12 — lost their opening game of the tournament on Monday to drop to the losers bracket. They staved off elimination with close wins over the Giants (7-6) and Angels (15-11) to earn a date with the Cubs on Saturday.
“They never quit in a game. It shows — we lost Monday, came through the losers bracket, didn’t do anything for six innings this game and it just took that one inning to get some positive momentum,” Hart said. “We had them right where we wanted them but just couldn’t execute the last couple of things.”
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nainsworth@juneauempire.com. Follow Empire Sports on Twitter at @akempiresports.
Mariners player Kasen Ludeman scores the game-tying run as he watches where Rory Hayes’ double lands in the outfield in the top of the sixth inning of the Gastineau Channel Little League Major Division Championship game on Saturday at Miller Field. (Nolin Ainsworth | Juneau Empire)
