No-hitter keeps Irvine rolling
Garcia adds four hits to his pitching gem

With a mist falling throughout the afternoon, there was some doubt whether the Irvine Northwood-Dover, N.H., first-round game would be played.But instead of a rainout, Dover got smoked out, courtesy of Irvine's Aron Garcia.

Garcia, 12, and nicknamed "Smoke", tossed a no-hitter, struck out 11, went 4 for 5 and hit a two-run homer to lead Irvine to a 13-0 victory over Dover at the 40th Little League World Series.

With its 17th consecutive victory, Irvine advanced to the second round against Chesterfield, Ind., today at 2 p.m. (PDT) The game will be broadcast live onn KUCI 88.9 and tape-delayed on ESPN at 5 p.m.

Chesterfield (17-2), the Central region representative, gained the second round with a 4-1 victory over Southern region champion Morristown, Tenn., on Tuesday.

Irvine took much of the drama out of Wednesday's game when it scored eight runs in the first three innings. However, most of the 10,000 fans at Howard J. Lamade Stadium remained to watch Garcia pitch his no-hitter.

Mixing up his three pitches well -- fastball, curve and drop -- Garcia (10-0 in postseason play) never was in danger of losing his no-hitter. He did not need any standout defensive plays to no-hit Dover (11-2), the U.S. East representative.

Garcia has recorded six straight shutouts to raise his postseason total to nine. He has allowed one run in his past 60 innings of all-star competition.

"On their good hitters," Garcia said, "I'd shake off Ryan (Jones) two or three times. He'd put down one finger and I'd shake it off. Then he'd put down two fingers and I'd shake it off, and then he'd go back and put down one again and I'd nod yes. "That makes the batter's hands tighten up on the bat. Then they get weaker and they can't hit as well."

"I thought we'd hit him, but he was fast and his curve dropped a lot," said Dover's No. 2 hitter, Jason Loubier, who struck out to end the game. Irvine had no difficulty with Dover's ace, Brian Stewart (6-1). It scored in the top of the first inning for the seventh consecutive time. Center fielder Geoff Ebdon reached on an error and then the left-handed hitting Garcia hit a high fastball for a two-run homer to left-center. "With the count 3-and-1, I knew he had to throw a strike," Garcia said. "I just whaled on it."

Irvine continued in a similar vein when Jones hit a 2-and-0 pitch about 250 feet for a two-run homer two batters later. "It was a curveball, just like my dad throws," Jones said, with a laugh. "When I heard that," his father, and Irvine coach, Bob Jones, said, "I knew that kid was in trouble."

The trouble continued in the second. With one out, Garcia hit a one-hopper off shortstop Derek Davis' glove and third baseman Loc Tran followed with a walk. Garcia then executed a delayed steal of third, with Tran holding at first. Irvine then went to what it calls "Bobby Ball." Named after Manager Bob Garcia and Coach Jones, "Bobby Ball" is a combination of aggressive and creative baserunning. After the first pitch to Jones, Tran ran halfway to second and stopped, forcing a befuddled Stewart to charge after him while keeping an eye on Garcia, who was moving down the third-base line. Once he got a quarter of the way to the plate, Garcia broke into a sprint, just beating the hurried throw by Stewart. That play appeared to rattle the 6-foot, 155-pound pitcher. Stewart eventually walked Jones, and Tran later scored on a wild pitch. Second baseman Ryan O'Toole's infield single drove Jones home and the route to make it 7-0.

"We were like a time bomb that was just waiting to explode," said Bob Garcia, whose team has been in Williamsport since Sunday. "And that's what we did." Irvine's Steve Mendoza, 12, added his second home run of the postseason when he opened the fourth with a 200-foot drive.

"I made a promise to these kids at the first practice that I'd take them to Willimasport," Bob Garcia said. "Now we want to bring home the world championship."
 
Irvine                             Dover, N.H.
                 ab  r  h  bi                       ab  r  h  bi
Ebdon cf      4  2  1  0      Law 2b          2  0  0  0
Garcia p       5  3  4  2      Thomas ph     1  0  0  0
Tran 3b        3  3  1  1      Loubier cf      3  0  0  0
Jones c        3  2  2  3      Demers 1b     2  0  0  0
Mendoza rf    2  1  1  1      Davis 3b        1  0  0  0
O'Toole 2b    3  1  2  1      Nerie pr         0  0  0  0
Tuttle ph      1  0  0  0      Stewart p      2  0  0  0
Greinke ss     4  0  1  0      Valyo rf         2  0  0  0
Louie 1f        2  0  0  0      Wilson pr       0  0  0  0
Curry 1f        1  0  0  0      Smith c         2  0  0  0
Lambert 1b    4  1  1  0     James ss       3  0  0  0 
                                           Crossman ph  1  0  0  0
                                           Baker 2b        0  0  0  0
                                           Wood ph       1  0  0  0
TOTALS     32 13 13 8     TOTALS       20  0  0  0

Irvine             431  140 -- 13
Dover, N.H.   000  000 --- 0
 
GWRBI-- Garcia. E -- James (2), Davis, Valyo. LOB -- Irvine 8, Dover, N.H. 3. 2B -- Garcia. HR -- Garcia (1), Jones (1), Mendoza (1). SB -- Garcia 2, Tran 1.
 
                                                 IP H  R  ER BB SO
Irvine Garcia (W, 10-0)          6  0  0   0   3  11
 
                                                 IP H  R  ER BB SO
Dover, N.H. Stewart (L, 6-1)  6 13 13 11  7   5
 
WP -- Stewart 2. Umpires -- Home, Rivera; First, Scott; Second, King; Third, Blaikie; LF, Rizzo, RF, Gramling. T -- 1:55. A -- 10,000.