A New Jersey team finally made it to semis, and then some
Freehold Township, N.J., clobbers its way to ’04 title

A team from New Jersey finally made it over the hump into the semifinal round and then made the most of it, as Freehold Township L.L., Freehold Township, N.J., captured the 2004 Senior League World Series title with a solid 10-1 win over El Rio L.L., Oxnard, Calif.

In the two previous World Series at Mansfield Stadium, teams from New Jersey had just missed the semifinal round. In 2002, South Vineland L.L., Vineland, N.J., lost 6-2 to eventual champion Pabao L.L., Willemstad, Curacao, Netherlands Antilles, on the last day of pool play, with the loss shutting it out of the semifinal round. In 2003, South Vineland again lost to Pabao, 7-6 in extra innings, on the final day of pool play to be kept out of the semifinal round.

Freehold Township and El Rio almost had to share the title, though, when rain began shortly after midnight on the morning of the championship game and continued until about 7 p.m., when the clouds began to break and the sun began to shine as it set. Little League International’s travel arrangements for Freehold Township and El Rio precluded postponing the game until the next day.

Rain had also pushed back opening day festivities, delaying the first pitch 90 minutes. The last game of opening day, between Whalley L.L., Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, and host Bangor East/West L.L., Bangor, didn’t start until 10:47 p.m. and didn’t end until 1:23 a.m.

The semifinal round produced two 1-0 games, with El Rio beating San Francisco L.L., Maracaibo, Venezuela, 1-0 in the first game and Freehold Township beating Dade City L.L., Dade City, Fla., 1-0 in the second game.

Freehold Township tied a Mansfield World Series record by hitting three home runs during the week. None of the other nine teams had a home run. Pabao hit three home runs in 2002 during its run to the title that year. One of Freehold’s home runs was Mansfield’s first series grand slam, by Jason Nardi in a 12-1 win over against U.S. Southwest representative Greater Helotes L.L., San Antonio, Texas, on the third day of action.

Asia-Pacific representative Saipan L.L., Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, broke that region’s 10-game losing streak at Mansfield with a 10-8 win over Bangor East/West on the fourth day of action. Saipan had lost its first two games of the series. Saipan then went on to beat Dade City 6-5 on the last day of pool play to finish with a 2-2 record.

For the first time since the series came to Bangor, the host didn’t win a game, as Bangor East/West went 0-4.

On the mound, the Latin America representative once again dominated. In five games and 35 innings, San Francisco pitchers gave up only 23 hits and surrendered only seven runs – three of them earned – to a establish a Mansfield series record ERA of 0.60. Pabao held the previous record at Mansfield for ERA in the series, at 1.27. San Francisco pitchers walked only nine batters, but the total was five more than the record for fewest walks allowed – four – by Pabao in 2003. The Freehold Township pitching staff wasn’t that far behind San Francisco. The team’s ERA was 1.23, with 12 runs given up (seven earned) in 40 innings, and only 32 hits allowed.

Dade City’s Domonic Brown, however, was the talk of the series, as he set some Mansfield series records of his own. The 6-foot-5 lefthander started three of his team’s five games, logging 21 innings on the mound while striking out 24. On the other end of the spectrum, he also walked 16 batters.

At the plate, Brown hit .529 in the series, going 9-for-17 with one double and two triples. In 2006, the Philadelphia Phillies drafted Brown in the 20th round of the amateur draft as the 607th overall pick.

Other 2004 World Series alumni who went on to sign professional baseball contracts included Brown’s teammate Robbie Shields (third round, 103rd overall pick, 2009 draft, New York Mets); Freehold Township’s Brett Brach (10th round, 305th overall pick, 2009 draft, Cleveland Indians) and Ryan Cuneo (20th round, 610th overall pick, Chicago Cubs); San Francisco’s Jose Gonzales (free agent, 2004, Colorado Rockies) and Kevin Soto (free agent, 2006, Chicago Cubs).