By BRADY FARKAS
www.cliftonparkworldseries.com
CLIFTON PARK – It wasn’t the most pitch-efficient effort, but the team from Tri-Valley, CA will take it.
Starting pitcher Joey Matulovich threw 151 pitches in a complete-game victory as the Pacific Southwest champions opened pool play with an 8-4 victory over Atlantic Shore, NJ at the 13-year-old Babe Ruth World Series. The loss dropped Atlantic Shore to 0-2 in the American Division.
Matulovich battled throughout, giving up four earned runs on 11 hits, six walks, and two hit batters. He also added seven strikeouts.
As sore as his right arm might feel when he wakes up Sunday, Matulovich felt great on Saturday.
“It feels good to pitch again in a game,” he said.
Tri-Valley has been idle since clinching the regional championship early this month in Taylorsville, Utah, and had the day off when World Series action began Friday.
Atlantic Shore, the Middle Atlantic Region representative, got to Matulovich in the top of the first on a Zach Newman infield single. Newman earned the Ron Tellefsen Player of the Game award for Atlantic Shore after his 3-for-4 and two RBI effort.
Tri-Valley quickly answered back against Atlantic Shore starter Raymond D’Amico by scoring four times in the bottom half of the inning. Quinn Cambra got the scoring started with a sacrifice fly and then an error led to Tri-Valley’s second run. Devin Rocha brought home the other two runs of the inning with a sharp single to center.
“That (hitting) was what we were worried about, so to get four runs in the first inning was big for us,” Tri-Valley manager Randy Moore said.
Moore said it has been a tough adjustment for the team to get used to being in the Eastern time zone. He said he was worried about fatigue and jet lag, especially the 10 a.m. start time – 7 a.m. on his players’ body clocks.
Tri-Valley went quietly in the second inning as D’Amico struck out the side, but added single runs in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings. Nick Moroney and Ryan Murphy each had two hits.
Atlantic Shore threatened all day against Matulovich but couldn’t get a big hit to knock out the gritty starter. Atlantic Shore stranded 13 runners on base, leaving the bases loaded in both the first and sixth innings.
“That’s been our problem (stranding runners) in the games we’ve lost this year,” said Atlantic Shore manager Mike Gill. “I’ll give him credit (Matulovich). He found another bolt of energy down the stretch and came back and threw well.”
Matulovich earned the Ron Tellefsen Player of the Game for Tri-Valley.
At 0-2, Atlantic Shore will need a pair of wins – and some help — to advance out of the pool play round. The situation is nothing new to the group. The team went 2-2 in the Middle-Atlantic Regional pool play round, before reeling three straight wins to advance to the World Series.
Tri-Valley will have another early call today, meeting Jasper, Ind., in the 10 a.m. game at Clifton Common. Atlantic Shore plays Eastern New York State champion, Guilderland, at 5 p.m.

Atlantic Shore 102 000 1 – 4 11 4
Tri-Valley 401 111 X – 8 10 0
2B – (AS) Droboniku, (TV) Moroney, Jew. SB – (TV) Pangelinan.

Click here for our CoverItLive webcast giving you batter-by-batter updates, polls, trivia and reader comments from the game.Click here.

To watch video of the game check out (audio under repair) Babe Ruth TV.