Placentia Wins AAU National 12-Under Title

The Placentia Mustangs won the AAU Baseball National 12-and-under championship in dramatic fashion Friday in Burnsville, Minn.

Placentia defeated the Glendale So. Cal. Panthers in the final, 5-4, when Bryan Jackson hit a home run with one-out in the bottom of the sixth.

Doug Middleton and Cole Garner also hit home runs for Placentia. Middleton hit a home run in the first and Garner hit a two-run home run in the fourth to tie it, 3-3.

When Glendale moved ahead in the top of the fifth, 4-3, Placentia’s Jeff Flaig hit a run-scoring double to tie it, 4-4.

Reliever Greg Miller earned the victory, shutting down Glendale in the sixth to set up Jackson’s heroics.

Jackson, the son of Placentia Coach R.J. Jackson, also tossed a complete-game in a 6-1 victory over Tidewater, Va., in Thursday’s quarterfinals. Also Thursday, Kyle Nash earned a complete-game victory leading Placentia past Kansas City, Mo., 7-3, in the semifinals.

The Mustangs won six of seven games to advance to the championship quarterfinals of the tournament, which started last Saturday.

*

The Orange County Stars, a team based in Anaheim, defeated the Midland (Ohio) Indians, 13-1, Friday at the AABC Mickey Mantle World Series in McKinney, Texas.

Matt Gay of Cypress hit a grand slam and Brian Yoder of Irvine had three hits, including two doubles, three runs batted in and three runs scored for the Stars. The game was called after six innings because of the mercy rule.

Pitcher Brian Wolfe went five innings, striking out six, to earn the victory for the Stars, who play again at noon today.

*

The Yorba Linda Aztecs won two games Friday to advance to today’s final of the AAU 11-and-under National Tournament in Orlando, Fla.

After Sean Rooney pitched a complete game in a 2-0 victory over the Hawaii Warriors, Yorba Linda defeated the Tampa Bay Stars, 3-2, with Rooney pitching the final three innings in that game to earn the victory.