The Orioles unleashed their own Murderer's Row on the Mariners in the Carson City Little League Major Division city championship Tuesday night at Governors Field.
The quartet of Bryce Moyle, Shane Andrews, P.J. White and John Holton combined to go 11-for-15 at the plate with eight RBIs and seven runs scored in the Orioles' 9-6 win.
Andrews went 4-for-4 with three RBIs and three runs scored. Holton went 3-for-3 with two RBIs and a run, P.J. White went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs, and Moyle went 1-for-4, including a double on the sixth pitch of the game that started a three-run inning.
It was the Orioles' first win in three meetings against the Mariners. The Orioles had lost one and tied one against the regular-season champions.
"I'm super proud of this team," said O's coach Jim Andrews. "They all work together. There is no one dominant player on this team.
"They've (the top four hitters) done this all year. They're our base, but we've had a full team effort all year. The guys at the bottom have gotten hits (or gotten on base) to get it back to the big four."
That may have been the case during the regular season, but it was the top of the order that did all the damage on Tuesday.
"Give them the credit," said Mariners coach Kevin Krebs. "They are good hitters. They hit the ball well.
"It was total location. If you get the ball up, those four guys, well they're going to get you. We knew that coming in. He (Kyle Krebs) was trying to challenge them; strike them out."
Moyle got the ball rolling in the first inning with a double that short-hopped the fence, and he scored moments later when Shane Andrews hit the first pitch from Krebs over the fence in left. White followed with a single, moved to second on a passed ball and scored on a Holton single to make it 3-0. The Orioles got runners to second and third with one out, but Krebs struck out the next two hitters to end the threat.
"We got on him real quick, and it worked out really good," the elder Andrews said.
The Mariners fought back with three of their own off Holton in the bottom of the first. A wild pitch and a two-run single by Bebop Martinez accounted for the runs. Holton, who struggled with location at the outset, walked two batters and both of them scored.
The Orioles scored three again in the second, all coming after two outs.
Andrews doubled and scored on White's single. Holton followed with another run-scoring single and moved to second when the Mariners tried to throw out White at the plate. The third run scored when Brady O'Keefe's groundball was misplayed at second base.
The champs made it 9-3 in the top of the third, again scoring three runs. Andrews contributed a run-scoring single, while White drove in two with a single.
That was it for the O's, who went down meekly in the final three innings, collecting just two hits in the process.
Facing a six-run deficit, It would have been easy for the Mariners to throw in the towel and surrender without as much of a whimper, but that didn't happen.
Anthony Membrano's run-scoring single in the bottom of the third made it 9-4, and the Mariners added two more in the fourth on singles by Jaden DeJoseph and Kevin Russler plus an error to make it 9-6. Holton reached 85 pitches and was removed with two outs in the fourth.
"John didn't have his best stuff, but I thought he pitched a good game," Andrews said.
Moyle came on in relief, and wiggled out of jams in both the fifth and sixth to pick up the save.
"We got a few runs, but it wasn't quite enough," coach Krebs said. "The kids battled. Nobody quit out there. We had a great season."