Modesto ready for Babe Ruth 16-18 World Series

Modesto baseball may be team to beat at Bambino series

By BILL POINDEXTER
bpoindexter@modbee.com

last updated: August 05, 2008 04:03:48 AM

They'll gather in a parking lot at the Vintage Faire Mall so early Wednesday that most of the city will be sleeping. They'll depart Oakland at 6:45 a.m., free to move about the country, until they pull into Newark, Ohio, as a target -- the target -- at the Babe Ruth 16-18 World Series.

Modesto's Western Regional title so caught the eyes of followers that coach Bobby Swedberg said a reporter at the local newspaper in the host city informed him Modesto just might be the team to beat when the tournament begins Thursday. Modesto opens pool play against Mobile, Ala., at 10:30 a.m. Friday.

Modesto twice beat Arroyo Seco of Pasadena en route to winning the Western Regional. Arroyo Seco knocked off two-time defending 16-18 World Series champion San Gabriel Valley en route to the Western Regional.

"We definitely have a target on our backs," Swedberg said Monday before practice at Davis Park. "The teams feel now that San Gabriel is out of it, everyone has a chance."

Including Modesto, now 25-2 and riding an unbeaten streak that began with a run through the state tournament in Modesto before running the regional table in Watsonville.

Regional MVP Bradin Hagens carried Modesto with his arm and bat. He allowed two hits and struck out six in a five-inning, 61-pitch, 10-0 win in the Regional over Castro Valley and went 3 for 3 with a double and four RBIs.

Held hitless until the sixth inning, Modesto then defeated Reno 7-4. Hagens and Terrance Marin each had an RBI double against Reno, and Merced College catcher Anthony Jakosa singled in the go-ahead run. All three are community college players who provide the team with experience. Hagens plays at Merced, Marin at Modesto JC.

"This is once in a lifetime. It will never happen again for me," said Marin, who pitched a five-hitter, walked one and struck out seven in a 7-1 win over Arroyo Seco that put Modesto into the final. "This is a dream come true. I always wanted to go to the Little League World Series. This should be more fun, especially with this group of guys. They're fun. They do crazy stuff."

Hagens hit a three-run homer in that game. He then scattered nine hits and one walk in a 2-1 win over Arroyo Seco in the championship game, and he got out of a jam in the final inning by striking out the cleanup hitter, his eighth of the game, and fielding a comebacker for the last out.

"What a bulldog," Swedberg said, adding that Hagens and Marin "threw two of their best games to get us to the World Series."

"I threw the pitch, and the ball was in my glove," Hagens said. "It was kind of a relief, too."

Marin, Jakosa and Pitman High graduate Austin Keaton made the all-tournament team at the regional. Keaton, playing shortstop, said it was as big a dogpile for him as when his Turlock North Little League all-star team won a section crown in Stockton.

"That third out was a big one," Keaton said. "That started everything."

Bee sports editor Bill Poindexter can be reached at bpoindexter@modbee.com or 238-4588.

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