The semifinal game of the 74th National Baseball Congress World Series pitted two teams that met in the fourth round of the tournament: Seattle (WA) and Beatrice (NE).
The Studs won the first meeting on Aug. 11 (2-0), and they prevailed in this one 4-1 to reach the championship round. Seattle will visit again with Santa Barbara (CA), a team they lost to 11-5 on Aug. 12. The championship game will be Friday at 6 p.m., with a second game to follow if necessary.
Seattle earned its berth in the championship game by making the most out of its three hits. Shawn Lindsey doubled home Nate Baker in the first inning, and later scored on an error. Shane Schoeneberg's triple scored Brandon Kuykendall in the second, and Lindsey hit a sacrifice fly to score Derek Jennings, who singled to lead off the eighth. Jennings stole second to put himself in scoring position, and took advantage of slow play by the Bruin defense to score on Jennings' fly out to deep right.
Seattle is bidding for its first NBC championship, while Santa Barbara won in 2006 and seeks to make it two titles in the last three years.
David Benson pitched 6 2/3 innings to get the win, extending the Studs's shutout string against the Bruins to 15 before allowing a two-out triple to David Adamson that scored Darby Brown. But Taylor Thompson came on to finish the game to earn his third save.
Beatrice (4-2) finished in third place.
