Sundance advances to Babe Ruth championship Tuesday

Dutch Goose may have won the Palo Alto Babe Ruth regular-season championship by a comfortable margin, but after a 3-2 loss Saturday to Sundance the Goose finds itself playing an elimination game Monday in the hopes of earning a return engagement with Sundance on Tuesday for the 15U league tournament championship.

Sundance, the No. 3 seed and 2018 champion, beat No. 2 Old Pro Friday before Saturday’s win over the Goose.

“We’re the defending champions,’’ Sundance coach Ron Fried said. “We’ve got to play with the heart of a champion.’’

Sundance took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on Ben Gladstone’s two-out RBI triple and then added another run in the fifth when Dante Black singled and came around to score. Carson Leclerc followed with a double and Gladstone was walked intentionally to load the bases.

Miles Vieri then hit a grounder down the third-base line. The Dutch Goose third baseman fielded the ball and threw home for the force on the lead runner; but not before he stepped on the base fielding the ball, which took the force off at the plate, allowing Black to score.

Leclerc pitched four scoreless innings before Dutch Goose scored two in the bottom of the fifth to tie the score. The rally started with two outs and nobody on base. Simon Illouz singled to center and shortstop Nathan Yu drew a walk. The runners moved up on a wild pitch and both scored on a single to center by No. 9 hitter Tyler Mostofizadeh.

The score was still 2-2 when Sundance came to bat in the top of the seventh. Black and Leclerc hit back-to-back singles — the third hit in a row for each — to put runners on first and second with no outs.

“Those two guys set the table real well today,’’ Fried said. “Our Achilles’ heel all year was hitting with runners in scoring position and two out. I told them to just trust their swing, to relax and hit the ball.’’

Gladstone then hit a grounder up the middle that Yu made a nice play on and started a double play to make it two out with a runner on third and apparently defuse the uprising. Relief pitcher Sam Papp had a 0-2 count on Vieri when he unleashed a pitch that got past the catcher and went to the backstop as Black scurried home from third with the go-ahead run.

Vieri, who had taken over on the mound for Sundance in the sixth, set down the first two batters he faced in the bottom of the seventh before Nolan Cook worked him for a walk but Vieri retired the next batter on a fly to center to end the game.

‘“Dutch Goose played like a first-place team and made it very close,’’ Fried said. “We definitely could use a little luck at the end.’’