Wade Bachmeyer backpedaled off the mound and, with his infielders converging on him, squeezed Alex Gonzales pop-up to preserve Taylors 11-10 victory Sunday at Southwood Valley Complex.
With the ball secured in his glove, Bachmeyers reaction was one of relief more than celebration bases loaded and Bryan United having closed the gap with six seventh-inning runs.
With the win Taylor advances in Junior League Section I to play either Washington County or Tyler Rose Capital East at 10 a.m. Monday in an elimination game.
The loss knocked Bryan Uniteds 13- and 14-year-old all-stars out of the tournament.
Bryan United sent 12 batters to the plate in the final inning. Juan Tomas started the frame with a single up the middle, Efrayn Mireles was hit by a pitch, and Alex Gonzales walked to load the bases and bring starting pitcher Bachmeyer back to the mound.
Johnny Duarte greeted Bachmeyer with an RBI single. An out later, Lorenzo Galicia knocked in Mirelas with a hard-hit ground out to third.
Taylors Dawson Brooks made arguably the defensive play of the game on the grounder, which appeared ticketed for left field off the bat of Galicia.
A.J. Contreras singled to right to plate Gonzales and Duarte and keep the Bryan United rally alive.
Joseph Bernal and Brian Williams walked, loading the bases, and then Bryan United got a break when an error on a grounder akept the game going and made it 11-9 when Contreras crossed the plate.
Brooks came up big again on Mirelas sharply hit grounder, keeping it in the infield and allowing only Bernal to score from third and setting up the final out.
Bryan United had pecked away at Taylors lead in the previous innings, scoring two in the fifth and one in the sixth, but it could have been more.
In the sixth, Williams forced home Brandon Pineda with a walk, but catcher Gregory Caldwell reacted quickly to a wild pitch and tossed the ball to reliever Austin Garcia to get Galicia at the plate.
An inning earlier, Gonzales drove in two with a double to right field. He tried to go to third on an overthrow but was called out when Brooks threw to a covering Felix Rodriguez.
It was the third out on the base paths in the inning for Bryan United. Caldwell caught a would-be base-stealer at second and combined with Bachmeyer to get another runner at home after a wild pitch.
Taylor did its damage in the first and fifth innings with four and six runs, respectively. Taylor had 11 hits as a team and 10 came in the two big innings.
Rodriguez doubled home Garcia in the first, Anthony Chaidez singled to drive in Brooks and Rodriguez and Bachmeyer went down the third-base line to make it 4-0 with a single.
In the fifth, Bachmeyer singled and scored when Wesley Stoltes second sacrifice bunt of the game was misplayed. Hayden Ball followed with a single and as did Garcia and after an out Caldwell and Rodriguez each had RBI singles.
The first out of the inning was a force at home when a drawn-in Thomas at shortstop fielded the ball cleanly and threw home to get Stolte.
The final run came on a fielders choice by Denton Meiske a play after Caldwell had found his way back to third after being caught in a rundown on Chaidezs grounder.
Taylor threatened to break the game open earlier, but a fine running catch by left fielder Brandon Pineda robbed Garcia of his third straight hit on reliever Mirelas first pitch.
Bryan United pulled a run back in the second on Contreras RBI single that scored Duarte, who got aboard with the first of his three singles.
Bryan Uniteds Williams was 2 for 3 and had two walks. Mirelas had two singles and reached base his final four at-bats. Galicia stroked two singles and Contreras was 2 for 2 with three RBIs.
Taylor was led by Garcia, who was 3 for 5, Rodriguez, who was 2 for 4 with three RBIs and Bachmeyer with three singles.
Bachmeyer got the win, pitching 5 1/3 innings in his two stints on the mound.