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The Texas squad will play North Carolina in the U.S. bracket championship game. The winner of that game will play the international bracket champions in the finals.
The Fairfield squad was coming off a decisive 12-2 win Wednesday, eliminating New Jersey and making it to the U.S. elimination round. It was as far as a Fairfield team has ever gotten in World Series play.
But Texas, representing the Southwest, took a commanding early lead, scoring 8 runs in the first inning against the New England regional champs.
Michael Iannazzo smacked one out of the park to get Fairfield 2 runs in the third.
Texas was up by 10 runs by the end of the third, putting Fairfield in danger of being eliminated by the mercy rule — a game ends if a team is up by 10 at the end of the fourth.
But Fairfield earned its third run, staying alive.
Then Texas loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth with no outs and Clayton Wigley hit one into shallow right field, bringing in the final runs to end the game.
On Saturday, Mexico plays Japan to determine the international champs at 12:30 p.m. and Texas plays North Carolina at 3:30 p.m. The tournament’s final game between those two winners will be Sunday at 10 a.m. The games will be broadcast on ABC.
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