By Robert Avery, ravery@hcnonline.com

NASA-West's outfielders watch a pitching change unfold Wednesday night. The scoreboard shows the District 14 champs holding onto a one-run lead, but that disappeared quite quickly.

NASA-West's outfielders watch a pitching change unfold Wednesday night. The scoreboard shows the District 14 champs holding onto a one-run lead, but that disappeared quite quickly.

NASA-West's Matthew Fernandez, who had doubled, slides home with the game's first score Wednesday night. He also smacked a hard-hit ball in the third that was caught by the center fielder.

NASA-West's Matthew Fernandez, who had doubled, slides home with the game's first score Wednesday night. He also smacked a hard-hit ball in the third that was caught by the center fielder.

NASA-West 11s open sectionals with 13-3 defeat

LEAGUE CITY - Being backed into a corner is nothing new for the NASA-West 11-year-old All-Stars, but if they're to get themselves out of this predicament, they have to find a way to cool off the bats of their Section 3 adversaries.

The Post Oak All-Stars spotted the District 14 champions a 3-1 lead before exploding for 12 runs and 11 hits in just two innings, paving the way for a 13-3 Section 3 Tournament victory at the League City Sportsplex's Joseph Fleming Field Wednesday night.

The good news for manager Tim Sims' crew is the fact they stand a very good chance of staying alive when they play the first elimination game Thursday night back at the Complex. They'll take on a Huffman All-Star team that appears to be pretty thin in talent across the board. Huffman was a 27-0 loser to Pearland East in the other first-round game Wednesday night.

Game time is 6 p.m.

The first championship game is set for Saturday night at 7. NASA-West is hoping some of that District 14 loser's bracket magic will reappear so that they'll force the IF game on Sunday night at 7. But again, Post Oak and Pearland have a potent attack. Either NASA-West has to meet that potency or find pitchers that produce outs.

Should NASA-West indeed stay alive Thursday night, they'll meet either Post Oak again or Pearland East on Friday. Those two meet at 8 p.m. with the loser facing the winner of the 6 p.m. game Friday night at 7.

Post Oak roughed up four NASA-West pitchers for the 13 runs, including starting and losing pitcher Jonathan Neel. He was one of three pitchers who couldn't stop Post Oak's third-inning rampage. The team paraded 13 batters to the plate, scoring seven go-ahead runs. Post Oak batted around again in the fourth, bringing on the mercy rule after four frames.

Post Oak finished with 12 hits and five went for doubles.

But the two-baggers weren't the problem in the third inning, at least not initially. The opening four batters in the third reached base thanks to three singles and a bases-loaded walk to Richie Klosek. With the lead still theirs at 3-2, NASA-West thought the strikeout that followed was the start to something good.

It wasn't.

The next six Post Oak All-Stars reached base and it was started with a two-RBI double to the fence from Ethan Goldstein. That was after a passed ball plated the tying run. Another double made it 6-3 before a wild pitch and the seventh hit of the inning upped the Post Oak lead to 8-3.

Post Oak had the bases jammed and looking for more runs but the 13th batter and the clean-up hitter struck out.

Three of the five doubles arrived in the fourth-inning uprising as Goldstein doubled for the second time. The nine-hole hitter singled home two more runs, a passed ball scored the fourth run and Klosek doubled home the 13th run.

Leading the way in scoring was Andy Guy. He was quite the guy in the two-hole slot, scoring three times by reaching base on the strength of three walks and a single.

NASA-West finished with six hits. Evan French led the way with two hard-hit shots, a double to start the second inning, later scoring on Liam Sweeney's infield single and then roping a single to left in the third.

Matthew Fernandez, James Nimmo and Cayden Cribbs had the other basehits. Nine-hole hitter Christian Rivera had the team's only other RBI when he hit into a 6-3 double play. But it gave the team that 3-1 lead, a lead that wouldn't hold up on this night.

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NASA-West 11s open sectionals with 13-3 defeat - Chron.com