CHARLESTOWN — The Jeff/GRC 11-12 Baseball All-Stars pulled one step closer to a District V tournament championship on Thursday night at Charlestown Little League Park.

The All-Stars jumped out to a 9-0 lead after 2 1/2 innings and cruised to a 14-2 win over Silver Creek in five innings in the first division semifinal. Jeff/GRC (5-0) will face New Albany in Sunday’s championship game at 8 p.m. in Charlestown. New Albany defeated Highlander Youth Recreation in Thursday’s second semifinal in five innings, 15-4. Jeff/GRC beat New Albany in District V pool play on June 29, 4-2.

“We’re really excited. We don’t want to take anything granted being in the position we are in,” Jeff/GRC manager Brent Falkenstein said. “We’re going to practice (today) and Saturday and they will be the two most important practices we’ve had up to this point. And Sunday will be the most important game we’ve had up to this point.”

Jeff/GRC scored its first two runs in the top of the first inning. Bailey Falkenstein smacked a one-out triple to center field to drive in Timmy Borden. Then Bailey Falkenstein scored on a wild pitch by Silver Creek starting pitcher Blayden McMahel.

Jeff/GRC increased its advantage to 4-0 with a pair of runs in the top of the second. With two outs, Bennie Day smacked an infield single to knock in Gerrin Moore from third base. Shortly thereafter, Gabe Gallahar came home on a wild pitch.

In the top of the third, five more runs came across the plate for Jeff/GRC as it used 10 batters. Gallahar, Borden and Bradley Benton each collected RBI singles during the frame, which was interrupted by a 40-minute rain delay.

“It was very important,” Brent Falkenstein said about his team’s fast start. “You don’t want to get off to a bad start. We constantly had something going on. We play the kind of ball where we constantly put the pressure on the opponent.”

Silver Creek’s two runs occurred in the bottom of the third. After McMahel led off the inning with a single, Bryson McNay launched a two-run home run over the center-field fence, slicing Silver Creek’s deficit to 9-2.

“Our leadoff guy did a good job getting on base,” Silver Creek manager Craig Padgett said. “Bryson was looking for a fastball. He just hit it over the center-field fence.”

Jeff/GRC tacked on five more runs in the top of the fifth. Borden hit a one-out solo shot to right-center field to give Jeff/GRC a 10-2 advantage. After Bailey Falkenstein scored on a bases-loaded walk and Benton came home on a fielder’s choice, teammate Hunter Schmitz smacked a two-run single to right to put Jeff/GRC up 12 runs.

Borden went 3-for-3 with three runs scored and two RBIs. Bailey Falkenstein was 2-for-2 with a pair of runs scored, while Benton and teammate Gabe Bierman each went 2-for-3. Bierman scored two runs.

Moore, Jeff/GRC’s starter, was the winning pitcher as he struck out five.

“We wanted to keep him under 50 (pitches),” Brent Falkenstein said. “He did what we wanted him to do. He was locating the ball pretty well.”

McMahel was the lone Silver Creek player with a multihit game, going 2-for-3 with a run scored. Silver Creek ended the tournament with a 2-3 record.



JEFF/GRC    225 05—14 14 1

SILVER CREEK    002 00— 2  5 1

    W — Moore. L — McMahel. 3B — Falkenstein (J). HR — Borden (J), McNay (SC).

    Records — Jeff/GRC 5-0, Silver Creek 2-3