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STEVE LEESenior Baseball squad holds off California 6-5 in the World Series opener.
Dominic Brown had allowed more runs than in any previous All-Star game and he had a sore left foot, the result of a foul tip in the first inning.
But coach Dale Maggard's faith in his ace never wavered and the 6-foot-6 left-hander took the mound in the bottom of the seventh with Dade City's Senior Baseball team clinging to a 6-4 lead over California in Sunday's World Series opener at Bangor, Maine.
Brown (8-0, all complete games) finished the job, allowing one run in the final inning. He scattered five hits, struck out seven, walked four and hit two batters in a 6-5 win.
"You really hate to do that unless they force you," Maggard said of replacing Brown with Game 2 starter Robbie Shields. "I didn't want (Brown) to think I was losing confidence in him."
Dade City (16-0) played Canada on Monday night in the second of four games in pool play.
The top two teams from each five-team division advance to Friday's semifinals with the winners playing Saturday for the championship.
Dade City overcame a 3-2 deficit and took a 5-3 lead with two runs in the fourth. California pulled within a run by scoring in that inning and the teams traded runs in the seventh.
"I figured they'd be pretty tough," Maggard said. "Usually, Florida, California and Texas are the best teams."
Dade City's one-run win was its third of the postseason and second in the past two games. Dade City defeated Virginia 3-2 in the Southern Region final and edged North Seminole 4-3 in the District 25 opener. The latter game (10 innings) marked the only time Dade City has played extra innings.
"How long can we keep this intensity up?" Maggard wondered, adding, "It seems like we've been on the road for three years."
In the seventh, Dade City got an insurance run that wound up as the winner. Shields singled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Zach Maggard (the coach's son).
That pair also hooked up on a key defensive play in the bottom of the seventh. With California baserunners at first and second and no outs, Maggard gunned down the runner cheating off second with shortstop Shields applying the tag.
"(Zach Maggard) and Robbie had a play on and I didn't know it," coach Maggard said.
"That just took the wind out of their sails. That was a big play for us."
Shields paced the Dade City offense with three hits, including a double and triple, two RBIs and three runs scored. He doubled home Brown, who singled, and scored on Zach Maggard's single in the first.
In Dade City's two-run fourth, Shields followed a walk to Brown with a triple and scored when Jamie Cruz reached on an infield error.
Brown had two hits and a walk, scored twice and drove in a run.
Dade City tied the score at three in the second when Gerard Mathis singled and scored on Brown's single.