Hollister’s Justin Schlie tossed five innings of two-hit
baseball, Kyle Zozaya added two RBI, and the Watsonville Aggies
defeated host Licking County, Ohio, 10-0 on Sunday at the Senior
Babe Ruth 16- to 18-year-old World Series in Newark, Ohio, and will
advance to the tournament’s single-elimination bracket as a
result.
NEWARK, OHIO
Hollister’s Justin Schlie tossed five innings of two-hit baseball, Kyle Zozaya added two RBI, and the Watsonville Aggies defeated host Licking County, Ohio, 10-0 on Sunday at the Senior Babe Ruth 16- to 18-year-old World Series in Newark, Ohio, and will advance to the tournament’s single-elimination bracket as a result.
Sunday’s victory provided the Aggies with a 3-1 record through pool play, and they will enter this week’s elimination bracket as the No. 2 seed from the American Division.
Watsonville will open bracketed play against the No. 3 seed from the National Division on Tuesday night at The Babe Ruth National Complex in Newark, Ohio. First pitch is 4 p.m. PST.
The winner will advance to Wednesday’s semifinal against the top seed from the National Division.
Watsonville, which includes several local ball players, including Hollister’s Schlie, Zozaya and Ricky Garcia, has won three straight games since dropping its opener to Gulf Coast, Ala., last Thursday.
The Aggies opened the 10-team tourney with a 16-7 loss to the Alabama team, which is representing the Southeast region and currently boasts a 4-0 record in the tournament.
But despite the early defeat, Watsonville managed to rebound with a 6-2 win over Ottumwa, Iowa (Pacific Southwest), on Friday and a 9-8 victory against Bloomfield, N.J. (Mid-Atlantic) on Saturday that vaulted the Aggies back into contention.
Needing a victory on Sunday to advance from pool play, the team’s comfortable 10-0 victory over Licking County ensured a trip to the six-team, single-elimination bracket, which will kick-off on Tuesday night.
The win over the host team was called in the fifth inning after Watsonville plated three runs in the first, five runs in the second and two more runs in the third.
Schlie, meanwhile, who just recently graduated from San Benito High School in the spring, allowed two hits on the bump for the Aggies, striking out two while walking no one.
At the plate, he connected on a single for Watsonville and later scored a run.
Afterward, Schlie was named the Ron Tellefsen MVP of the game. It was the second straight game Schlie was awarded the honor.
On Saturday, against Bloomfield, N.J., Schlie connected on three hits and drove in two runs as Watsonville staved off the Mid-Atlantic representative en route to a 9-8 victory.
Watsonville led 6-0 through four innings, but New Jersey battled back to cut the deficit to one run. Hollister’s Ricky Garcia, pitching in relief for the Aggies, ended the game on the mound when he forced a bases-loaded fly-out to center field to preserve the victory.
Garcia also added a pair of hits against Ottumwa, Iowa, on Friday.
