James River built a 12-2 lead and held on to win 12-7 on Wednesday against West Linn, OR, then steadily put runs on the board while junior lefty Jake Matthews let it be known that the team has more than two pitchers with a complete game 3-hitter over Cottonwood, UT on Thursday, winning 7-1. Cottonwood was Baseball America's # 39 team in its preseason poll, and was hot off a 3-HR shellacking of BA's soon to be former # 1 team before Matthews shut them down with a gem.
The format of the tourney allowed only one team to finish 4-0, and that was champion Crespi of California. Three teams finished 3-1. Conversely, one team went 0-4 and three went 1-3. The other 8, including James River, finished I guess in a massive tie for 5th at 2-2.
A lot of woulda coulda shouldas after Monday evening's last-out, one run defeat, but all in all the week was fun for the team and the young guys learned that they can hang with anyone.
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