Bayonne Little League discovered itself in a place Sunday that it hasn’t been in for fairly some time.
After successful 15 straight video games, its streak came to an finish in the kind of a 6-0 loss to Davenport (Iowa) Northwest in the Little League World Series, placing the New Jersey squad on the brink of elimination from the match.
The Midwest Region representatives held Bayonne to just one hit all recreation, with the lone hit coming in the backside of the third by proper fielder Joey Dwyer.
Bayonne star Mason Rincon wasn’t ready to replicate the dominant efficiency that he had proven earlier in the match, pitching three innings and permitting three runs on 4 hits.
Bayonne, N.J., has been pushed to the brink at the Little League World Series after a loss on Sunday.
Davenport Northwest’s starter Anthony Johnson Jr. had Bayonne’s quantity all day, putting out 15 batters in 5 ²/₃ innings.
“The kid had a great changeup, a great curveball and he wasn’t wild today,” Bayonne coach Justin Smith advised reporters about Johnson’s efficiency against his workforce. “He was hitting everything he had to hit. He was very good. Hats off to him.”
Bayonne will now transfer to the elimination bracket and Tuesday night time will face the winner of Monday’s recreation between the Southwest Region and the Great Lakes Region.
The New Jersey Little Leaguers, whose battle cry has been “Bayonne vs. Everyone,” can still attain the U.S. championship recreation in the match, but now have no margin for error.
“They got punched in the face today and now they got to wake up tomorrow and regroup and keep fighting,” Smith said. “I think they’ll regroup and I think they’ll keep fighting.”
Davenport Northwest jumped out to a fast begin Sunday afternoon in Williamsport, Pa., taking benefit of early errors by Bayonne, which included a wild pitch, an error and a single that helped the Iowa squad to take a 2-0 lead in the first inning.
Rincon threw 31 pitches in the first inning alone — the max he’s allowed to throw in a recreation is 85 — and completed the day with 65 pitches when he came out of the recreation and Gabe Garcia Jr. took over for him.
Bayonne celebrates after defeating Blackwood in the New Jersey Little League State Championships at the Cresskill Little League Baseball subject in Cresskill, New Jersey, on Tuesday, August 11, 2026. USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
Rincon did strike out six batters during the outing.
“I don’t think he struggled, I think he was good. We just have to make a couple more plays here and there,” Smith said about his starter, noting several defensive performs that weren’t made by Bayonne in the loss.
Johnson drove in Iowa’s third run of the recreation in the high of the third inning with a single on the floor to proper subject and he added to that in the sixth inning, when he hit a three-run dwelling run to middle subject.
Bayonne’s do-or-die showdown Tuesday won’t be the first time that the workforce has confronted this kind of scenario, having to play a win-or-go-home scenario during the regional match.
Smith said the plan for Tuesday is easy.
“We take it one game at a time,” he said. “Can’t tell the kids to go win four games. It’s one game a day. That’s what you have to go for.”