Fresno steals NBC Regional show

By ECS Staff
Updated: July 4, 2017

NBC World Series qualifier Fresno A's following their regional tournament win.

2017 SAN DIEGO STARS BASEBALL

By Nick Pellegrino
Special to East County Sports

SANTEE (7-4-2017) – Originally tabbed as the guest entrant to the National Baseball Congress Western Regional qualifying tournament, the Fresno A’s came to town and stole the show.

The A’s, the seventh seed in the annual tournament, broke through with victories over the San Diego Stars and the Dove Tail Baseball Academy on Sunday (July 3) at West Hills High, earning a ticket to the NBC World Series in Wichita, Kan.

Fresno scored three times in the 9th inning to break open a tie game, downing the Stars, 12-9, in the morning semifinals. Dove Tail then downed the top-seeded San Diego Waves, setting up a finale with two of the lowest seeds in event history, as the A’s took the trophy with a 12-9 verdict.

Among the final four teams, three hailed from the Stars pool during preliminaries.

“It was our tournament for the taking, but we made too many defensive mistakes,” said Stars owner/field manager Mickey Deutschman.

Fresno committed seven errors, but San Diego bats only cashed in the mistakes for runs only a few times. Meanwhile, the A’s pushed across eight runs in the 4th inning — all unearned — turning a 4-1 deficit into a 9-5 lead.

However, the Stars (15-6) were still able to tie the contest, eventually moving even in the 6th on an run-scoring basehit by catcher Aaron Barkley. Barkley also started the 9th with a single, but the A’s were able to close out the victory.

Jeremiah Barr fired four innings of shutout ball in relief, but errors saw Fresno score three in the 9th to earn a berth in the championship game, where they again trailed early before turning an early 3-1 deficit into a 9-3 advantage.

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