Davis National Juniors' pitcher Kris Prince gets set to throw to first baseman Nick Pohl to nail a Dixon base runner on Monday. The locals, however, were knocked out of the District 64 Tournament as they fell, 6-5. Fred Gladdis/Enterprise photo

VACAVILLE — This one came right down to the wire, and when Dixon’s Matt Eldridge crushed a two-run double with two out in the last inning, it eliminated a game Davis National from the Little League District 64 Juniors Tournament, 6-5, on Monday.

Played at a concrete-hard, wind-blown and frigid Arlington Park, the contest was the locals’ third straight one-run game — and their second loss to Dixon at the event.

“I have been really proud of our guys during the whole tournament,” said DNLL coach Mark McNece. “They really fought hard each and every game.

“We lost here on the very last batter … they each played to the expectations we had for each and every one of them.”

With a constant wind blowing in from right field, the two teams hinted early at a slugfest.

Davis’ Ian Miramontes opened the first with a single and eventually scored on a wild pitch. Two errors put a pair of unearned Dixon runs on the board in the bottom of the inning.

But back roared DNLL with a big inning — and its last runs of 2011.

Catcher Kyle England got things started with a single. Brendan Pohl followed with a walk and Glen Welch singled home England. A throwing error brought in Pohl and sent Welch to third. With one down, Miramontes doubled in Welch, went to third on a Brett Bello balk and scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-2.

Despite a Quentin McCray single and a walk to Nick Pohl, Bello settled down and got out of the inning with no further damage.

Walter Bolle, Davis’ left-handed starter, got one batter in the second before falling victim to a pitch-limit decision by McNece.

“We were trying to manipulate the pitching,” the coach explained.

In came Miramontes, and for his two innings, Dixon was scoreless.

Kris Prince came on to pitch in the fourth and was unlucky at the end after 3 1/3 solid innings.

An infield hit by Dixon’s Carson Leber and an error followed by an errant throw, put runners at second and third and nobody out in the bottom of the seventh.

With the infield in, Prince got Bello to fly out to right field with Adam Siegel, whose throw home was perfect, holding Leber at third. Matt Williams struck out before Eldridge’s game-winner to deep left.

“Prince has always been a solid pitcher for us,” McNece added. “He did a great job coming in. He got that last pitch up a little, but that’s baseball, isn’t it?”

Meanwhile, from the third inning on, Dixon rode its horse, Joe Quintanella.

The big right-hander came on to limit Davis to three hits while striking out nine over five innings. He also scored twice and drove in a run, going 1-for-3 at the plate.

DNLL lead-off hitter Miramontes was 3-for-4 with a couple of tallies and an RBI. McCray and England each had two hits and Welch collected other Davis single.

Dixon’s Leber was 3-for-4 and scored twice. Eldridge had two hits and drove home three runs. Ryan Butler was 2-for-3.

Notes: England made a difficult catch on a third-inning, wind-blown foul pop by Williams. Brendan Pohl got Davis out of trouble in the sixth with two slick fielding plays on grounders, both resulting in force outs. … National’s Brenden Tull missed the tourney with a wrist injury. “He was sorely missed,” McNece said. “He’s a great ballplayer who could have helped us out … but his wrist was just too sore to go.” Tull helped in the dugout by charting pitches and keeping everyone up and in the ballgame. … Dixon will face the other Davis team — the American all-stars — on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.

— Reach Bruce Gallaudet at [email protected] or (530) 747-8047.

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Davis National Juniors’ pitcher Kris Prince gets set to throw to first baseman Nick Pohl to nail a Dixon base runner on Monday. The locals, however, were knocked out of the District 64 Tournament as they fell, 6-5. Fred Gladdis/Enterprise photo

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