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SHELBY, N.C.—The defending national champs are 2-0 in American Legion Baseball World Series pool play.
                Three Brooklawn, N.J., pitchers combined to spread out six hits and three walks, while last year’s national player of the year Anthony Harrold, Pete Farlow, Sean Breen and Tre Todd combined for 10 hits, seven RBIs and five runs Friday evening to help lead New Jersey to a 9-2 victory over Jacksonville, Florida.
                New Jersey improved to 51-7 on the year and 2-0 in pool play; the Bulldogs play Midland, Mich., Saturday at 8 p.m. Jacksonville fell to 38-7 on the season and 0-2 in pool play. It plays Cromwell, Conn., Saturday at 1 p.m.
                Tied 1-1 in the bottom of the 4th inning, Harrold scored on a wild pitch and then Farlow hit a two-out RBI infield single to give Brooklawn the lead it wouldn’t relinquish.
                Ahead 3-1 in the 5th, Todd hit a one-out, two-run double down the right field line that gave the Bulldogs a cushion they’d keep adding to.
              “Coach gave me a green light early in the count and he usually doesn’t do that because with nine-inning games he wants pitchers to throw as many pitches as possible,” Todd said. “So I was looking to drive the ball hard somewhere. I can’t remember if it was the first pitch or not but it was a fastball inside and I just turned on it and got my bat through the zone.”
                An inning later, Harrold—who suffered through cramps all game long—hit a two-out RBI single to right field. “I was actually on the bench trying to drink water and the team told me I was up, so I threw on my batting gloves and just swung and it found a hole,” Harrold said. “I’m not sure which pitch I hit or what it was.”
               Through the pain, the 6-foot-1, 205-pound Harrold went a perfect 4-for-4 with a walk, two RBIs and two runs scored to boost his national postseason average to .469. Not bad for a player who missed around 30 games this season with a broken hand and is just starting to get back into the groove of things. The soon-to-be high school senior got Brooklawn on the scoreboard first in the second inning with an RBI double to right-center field. “First pitch, I was trying to get a fastball… I didn’t get it so I didn’t swing,” Harrold said. “Second pitch, I forget what happened. Third pitch, he threw a fastball high and I chased a little bit and check swung and I went. So I was down 1-2 and he threw me a curveball and I waited on it and just hit it over the second baseman’s head and it found the hole.”
               Jacksonville put on run on the board off of cleanup hitter Jack Ogin’s one-out RBI single to cut its deficit to 6-2, but New Jersey’s Phil Dickinson and Farlow hit back-to-back two-out RBI doubles to extend its lead.
                Brooklawn out-hit Jacksonville, 13-6, in the victory. Farlow, the center fielder, had two hits and two RBIs in the win. Breen, the clean-up hitting second baseman had three hits and two runs scored. And Todd added a sacrifice fly to compile three RBIs.
                Eric Shorr, Brooklawn’s 6-foot-3, 180-pound starting pitcher went five innings to earn his second victory of the national postseason. He allowed four hits and three walks while striking out four. Steven Mondile relieved him and worked three innings, allowing two hits but no walks and no strikeouts. Kevin Terifay pitched a perfect 9th without a strikeout.
                “We like to get ahead early and pitch around batters” said Todd, Brooklawn’s catcher. “We heard they’ve got some pretty good batters so we were able to pitch around them and make them fly out and ground out. We didn’t give them anything really over the plate, we tried to paint the corners as much as possible.”
                Jacksonville right fielder Diyon Ellis went 2-for-3 with two doubles in the loss. Starting pitcher Kyle Pausche allowed seven hits and four walks in 4 1/3 innings. He pitched a complete-game shutout at regionals.