August 14, 2003 — The V.I. Explorers were eliminated in round 16 of the American Youth Baseball Hall of Fame 12-and-under tournament Thursday, in Cooperstown, N.Y. The San Carlos (California) Stingers beat the Explorers, 7-1.
The Explorers could not put their hits together, even as they out-hit their opponents six to two. The Explorers committed crucial errors in each of the Stinger two big offensive innings. This helped the No. 1 ranked Stingers get two runs in the third inning and four runs in the fifth.
The Explorers left the bases loaded in the fourth inning after scoring their only run of the ball game. The Explorers did not capitalize on the two errors that the Stingers committed in the inning.
Kevin Timko won the game for the Stingers. Akeem Fleming picked up the loss for the Explorers.
The top offensive players for the Explorers were Kai Smith, who went one-for-one, Ryan Thomas was two-for-three and Deron Hanley was one-for-two. For the Stingers, Wilder and Cooper each went one-for-two, and Hooper hit a two-run homerun in the fifth inning.
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