TAYLOR, MICH (Fox 2) - Tennessee, Mexico, Taylor and Italy open play 1-0 and advance to Monday’s second round of play.
All games are played on World Series Field. Parking and admission are a $5 per car charge at the gate.
Fans should note that bench grandstand seating is available on both sides of the diamond and in some areas of the outfield. Berm seating is located down both lines and in some areas of the outfield, so blankets and lawn chairs are welcome. Food stands are also available around the diamond at reasonable prices.
Heritage Park (12111 Pardee Road) is located on the corner of Pardee and Northline roads, easily accessible from I-94, Telegraph Road and I-75. There are entrances to the park on Pardee Road just south of Brest and on Northline at Racho Road.
Game recaps follow:
WISCONSIN VS. TENNESSEE – Murfreesboro Little League, the Southeastern Regional champion, opened the 2026 Junior League World Series Tournament with a bang during a 10-4 victory over Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin. Whitefish Bay is the Central Regional champion.
Tennessee received solid pitching from starter KJ Taylor and Eli Goodman over the first four innings while the team was building an 8-0 lead.
Tennessee opened the scoring in the second when Charlie Newburry scored on a wild pitch. The team then ran away from the opposition by scoring four in the third and another three in the fourth.
In the third, the first three Tennessee batters (Jaylen Coronel, Angel Narvaez and Brennon Thomas all reached on hits and then scored. Taylor also reached base later in the frame and ended up scoring on a bases loaded walk to Asher Jeong.
In the fourth inning, Landon Fettig singled and scored before Narvaez, who doubled, scored on the front end of a double steal. Later in the inning, Brennon Thomas scored on an Ames Thomas RBI single.
Tennessee finished its scoring in the fifth inning when Narvaez and Ames Thomas each drove home runs.
Tennessee had 11 hits against seven Wisconsin pitchers.
Murfreesboro also featured some standout defense. First baseman Frankie Hyland started two tough double plays, the first one a neat 3-6-3 number in the second inning before he made a great stab of a line drive and then doubled the runner off first that short-circuited a Wisconsin rally in the fifth inning.
For Whitefish Bay, Josh Irwin had two RBI and Chase Adam added another.
Tennessee (1-0) advances to tomorrow’s Game #6 (1 p.m. Monday, August 10) against La Mirada, California, the West Regional champions who drew a first-round bye. Whitefish Bay (0-1) drops into the elimination bracket and will play a to-be-determined opponent at 7 p.m. Tuesday, August 11.
CANADA VS. MEXICO – Pitcher Raul Hernandez Jr. came on in relief early in the game and Mexico’s offense exploded for 19 runs in a mercy-shortened 19-2 victory over Canada in Game #2 of the tournament.
The Mexico Regional champs are from Matamoros while the Canadian Regional champions are from Kingston, Ontario.
Canada came out on fire, scoring two runs on a pair of hits off Mexican starter Richardo Cavazos. Cavazos left the game with the bases loaded and just one out in the first inning, but that’s when Hernandez plugged the leaky dam.
He struck out two straight hitters to get out of the first without any more damage. He ended up facing 12 hitters without giving up a hit and allowed only two walks and no runs. He left after throwing 48 pitches, two under the limit.
Mexico scored four runs in the second and three more in the third for a 7-2 lead before blowing the game wide open by second 18 batters to the plate in the top of the fourth inning, scoring 12 runs on just four hits … and they ended up leaving the
bases loaded. In all, they went through four different Canadian pitchers in that inning.
Aside from helping his pitcher navigate the game, Mexican catcher Sebastian Izaguirre had two singles and three RBI. Third baseman Luis Longoria made a great over the shoulder catch in the third inning and added two runs, two RBI and a long single off the center field fence.
Mexico (1-0) advances to the Game #5 tomorrow (10 a.m. Monday, August 10) to face Chinese Taipei, which drew a bye in the opening round. Canada (0-1) now moves into the elimination bracket to play in Game #9 at 10 a.m. Tuesday, August 11.
NEW JERSEY VS. TAYLOR NORTH – The Michigan District 5 champions from Taylor North Little League opened the 2026 Junior League Baseball World Series with a solid 6-1 victory over US East Regional champion Freehold Township Little League of Freehold, New Jersey in Game #3 of the tournament on Sunday, August 9.
The game pitted a pair of rather even squads, but Taylor North made the plays, pitches and contact when it counted most.
Taylor led 1-0 early when big Khiry Harris led off the bottom of the third inning with a monster blast, the tournament’s first home run. Estimated at about 330 feet, it landed near the concession stand in dead center field for a 2-0 lead.
The very next inning, Taylor doubled its lead to 4-0. Brock Francis walked to lead off the inning and was picked off first base by East pitcher James Calamia. However, in the ensuing rundown, Francis outran the first baseman to second base. Instead of one out and no one on base, Francis wheeled home on Eian Sexton’s ground rule double over the left-centerfield fence. Sexton then scored on a double steal.
Taylor added its final two runs in the fifth when Harris singled and moved up on a wild pitch and Emiliano Alvadaro’s infield single. Harris scored on another double-steal and then Alvadaro finished Taylor’s scoring thanks to Cortez Loving Jr.’s RBI double
Meanwhile on the mound, Jackson Farner relieved Taylor starter Black Greear in the third inning and threw darts at the opposition. A 5-4-3 double-play ball off the
bat of New Jersey’s Austin Sweeney was turned by third baseman Sexton, who threw to second baseman Greear who relayed the ball to first baseman Griffen Adams.
Farner left the game after pitching to one hitter in the sixth. With a six-run lead, Maddox Bassonetti and Jax Finn finished off the mound work for Taylor.
New Jersey scored its only run in the seventh inning when James Szustowicz walked in two out and the bases loaded, but Finn got out of the jam with a game-ending strikeout.
Taylor (1-0) advances to play New Mexico, the Southwest Region champion, at 7 p.m. tomorrow (Monday, August 10). New Jersey (0-1) moves into the elimination bracket and plays at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, August 11, against a to-be-determined team.
ITALY VS. AUSTRALIA – The last team to open the 2026 Junior League World Series with a victory on Sunday, August 9, was Emilia Romagna Little League of Bologna, Italy. The Italians, winners of the Europe-Africa Regional, shutout Perth Metro East Little League, the Australia Region champs, 4-0, in the day’s final contest.
The game was all about pitching – and not just on the Italian side. Italy’s Josef Foli started and pitched three shutout innings, settling down to strike out four after getting a 3-0 lead in the first inning. That edge came thanks in part to Leonardo Facchini’s two-run single.
Foli gave way to reliever Andrea Gazza, who shut down the Aussies on just one hit through the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. A long, two-out double by Joshua Watts gave Australia a fighting chance in the fifth, but Gazza calmly struck out Brody Warner to end the threat.
In the bottom of the sixth, Andrea Parisi drilled a clutch two-out RBI single to give Italy a 4-0 lead. Parisi then replaced Gazza on the mound and shutout Australia in the seventh inning.
On the other side of the coin, while Italy’s pitching kept Australia at bay, Aussie starting pitcher Riley Macolm was brilliant after Italy’s three-run first inning. From
that point until he left after the fifth inning, he posted 10 strikeouts and threw 91 pitches. He deserved a better fate.
Now 1-0, Italy advances to Game #7 at 4 p.m. Monday, August 10 against Aruba, the Latin America Region winner which a drew first-round bye. Australia (0-1) is off until 4 p.m. Tuesday, August 11, when it enters the elimination bracket against a to-be-determined team.