First Posted: 8/3/2013

LUMBERTON — By the time Lumberton Border Belt All-Star team took the field for their final pool play game in the Babe Ruth 13- to 15-year-old Southeast Regional Tournament Saturday, their move to the tournament semifinals was essentially a lock.

But that didn’t mean things were going to change.

Using the same methods it had all tournament — namely a potent offense and spot-on pitching — Border Belt beat Sarasota 14-2 in six innings to finish pool play 4-0 and put themselves back into contention for a regional championship.

“The guys that we put in, we’re hitting one through 15,” said manager Thomas Odum. “It’s like we never miss a beat. It’s a team effort, everybody’s doing great.”

Though Border Belt’s win left no questions asked, it was at the second diamond at St. Pauls where things got interesting.

Tallahassee beat Summit Point 6-2 in the late game, which put both teams in a three-way tie atop the pool with Pembroke’s Lumber River team.

Tallahassee (Fla.) was given the pool’s top semifinal seed, having allowed the fewest runs in the four games of play. Summit Point (W.V.) was given the pool’s second semifinal spot based on its win against Lumber River on Thursday night. It ended a day for Lumber River that had begun in joy when the team beat McKenzie (Tenn.) 12-10.

At Lumberton, Border Belt continued its dominant pitching, beating Mims 15-0 in 5 innings prior to the win against Sarasota.

Lumberton got a shutout from Alec Brewington, who threw four innings, and Evan Odum.

The success continued into the second game, where Tyler Musselwhite established his rhythm early.

Musselwhite retired the first seven batters he faced, before allowing a walk, which later led to Sarasota’s first run.

He didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning, when Sarasota’s leadoff hitter singled and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly. The single was Sarasota’s only hit of the game.

Musselwhite threw five of the six innings before Daniel Oxendine closed it out. The two combined for one hit allowed and six walks.

Offensively, Lumberton struggled in the first inning, but got on the board when Travis Suggs had a two-out double that scored Musselwhite and Austin Hammonds.

Suggs finished the game 4 for 5, providing nearly one-third of his team’s 13 hits. In addition to his double, he had two singles and a triple and finished with three RBIs.

His triple came as part of a four-run fifth inning that put Lumberton up 11-2. The inning also had a triple from Kyron Carter, who went 2 for 3.

Lumberton is looking for their second straight appearance in a regional title game. The same team of players lost last year in the regional championship.

They’ll play Summit Point at 3:30 p.m., with the winner playing for the title at 6 p.m.

Lumber River is missing the semifinals after edging out McKenzie 12-10 in a game that had where they led, trailed, then ultimately came out ahead.

“They showed a lot of heart,” said assistant coach Derrick Lowry. “They didn’t quit. They played baseball the way they were supposed to play it.”

Lumber River had a 6-4 lead entering the fifth inning, but allowed three singles from McKenzie’s first four batters in the top of the fifth. All three later scored — two on walks, one on a passed ball — to take a 7-6 lead.

In the fifth, Lumber River took it right back, reaching their first three batters on an error, a walk, and a hit-by-pitch.

Cody Freeman then had a double to left field on a shallow hit that was misplayed by McKenzie’s left fielder. The hit scored two and gave Lumber River the 8-7 lead.

On the next batter, Nick Martin hit a ball to left, which was again misplayed, allowing two more runs to score. As the runs came in the fielder spiked his glove into the outfield grass. The inning ended after 10 batters had come to the plate and scored six runs.

McKenzie led off the second inning with consecutive hits to narrow the lead to 12-10, but Freeman came in in relief to end the inning.