California A’s grab top divisional seed at Peligro in NYC

Sunday night, 7pm EDT (following lengthy rain delay most of Sunday)

The New Zealand Black Sox beat Chicago/NY 4-3, and advance to face the California A’s, a rematch of Friday night’s game won by the Black Sox. Following the opening night loss, the A’s went on to win their next three in a row – all shutouts – to overtake the Black Sox for the top seed in their pool.

The California A’s rebounded from an opening night loss to the touring New Zealand Black Sox to win three straight games on Saturday and overtake New Zealand for the top seed in the Blue division. The California A’s will take on the top seed from the Red division, Excellente at 12 noon on Sunday. The winner will advance to the finals of the tournament at 4pm, while the loser will face the remaining survivor from games pitting lower seeded teams. The tournament will award $10,000 in prize money.

The California squad entered the tournament as the #3 team in the world, behind # 1 defending ISC World Tournament champions, Jarvis Travelers, and # 2 Chicago/New York. Jarvis is not competing in the tournament, while Chicago/New York finished second in the Red division, behind Excellente.

Recap of California A’s games

Game2
New Zealand 3, California A’s 0
Black Sox pitcher Karl Gollan tossed a 4 hit, 11 strikeout shutout at the A’s. Lucas Mata took the loss for the A’s, surrendering 2 runs in the first and one more in the third.

Game10
California A’s 8, Industriales 0
The A’s led 1-0 through 3 innings, then broke the game open, scoring 2 in the 4th, 3 in the 5th and 2 more in the 6th to cruise to an easy 8-0 win. Lucas Mata went the distance, striking out 11 for the victory. Derek Mayson was 2-3 with a single and triple. Todd Budke also tripled.

Game14
California A’s 7, Padres 0
Derek Mayson tossed a 5 inning shutout, striking out 11 and surrendering only 3 hits as the A’s rolled on. Darren Box, Calem Gardner and Marcus Tan were the offensive standouts for the California squad.

Game17
California A’s 4, Dominicana 0
The A’s scored three in the first and never looked back, riding the strong right arm of Sean Whitten, who struck out 15, and yielded just 4 hits enroute to the victory. Kevin Schellenberg, Bobby Rostenhausler and Derek Mayson were the offensive standouts for the A’s.

You may also be interested in:
2011 Peligro Scoreboard.
California A’s win rematch vs. New Zealand Black Sox