Wisconsin state Little League champion Appleton Einstein has been eliminated from the Great Lakes Region - by one run. After losing to Bowling Green, Ky., 18-3 on Wednesday, Einstein needed help from Mt. Vernon, Ohio. Not only was Ohio unable to beat the Illinois champion from Chicago, but if it had allowed one fewer run, Wisconsin would be playing in Friday's semifinal round. With three or four teams tied at 2-2, the tiebreaker comes down to a head-to-head tiebreaker between the two teams that gave up the most run. That is Ohio and Wisconsin. Ohio beat Einstein 7-4 on Sunday. But if Ohio had scored one more run, the tiebreaker would be between Einstein and the Illinois champion. Einstein beat the Chicago team 4-1 on Monday. Ohio gave up 17 runs in 24 innings for .70 per inning. Illinois surrendered 16 runs in 23 defensive innings - .69 per inning.

"It's frustrating," Einstein coach Ross Van Handel said. "But our boys battled all through district and state and (in the region) and we're proud of them. We're excited about the way they played." Einstein is the first team from Wisconsin to win two games at the Great Lakes Regional since 2005. A poor inning, in which they gave up six runs, against Mt. Vernon was the eventual death of Appleton. One poor inning on Wednesday against Bowling Green, Ky., ended its aspirations as well.

After scoring two runs in the second inning and four more in the third to take a 6-2 lead, Bowling Green broke the game open with a 12-run fourth inning. Seaton Sheldon hit his second home run of the game to provide three of Bowling Green's 12 runs in the inning. We just couldn't stop the bleeding," Van Handel said. "There's nothing we could do about it. Our pitchers threw strikes and they just hit the ball. We didn't get the outs when we needed. That's the way baseball goes sometimes." In the top of the first inning, it looked like it would be Appleton's day. The first four Einstein batters had base hits, producing two runs.

Brett Gruber picked up where he left off in the win over Illinois, leading off the game with a single. Mark Gajewski followed with a double - Einstein's only extra-base hit of the game - and Einstein had runners on second and third with nobody out. Connor Rolain and Frank Van Handel followed with RBI singles to give Einstein the early lead. Van Handel went 2-for-2 in the contest. "We were ready to play," Coach Van Handel said. "We got the bats going. We felt pretty good at the beginning."

BOX SCORE

Bowling Green, Ky. 024 (12) - 18 14 1

Appleton, Wisc. 201 0 - 3 7 0

W - Zack Sibalich (1-1). L - Evan Polce (0-1). S - Christopher McDaniel (1). 2B - Mark Gajewski (A), Hunter Rogers (BG), Sibalich (BG), Zach Borden (BG). HR - Seaton Sheldon (BG) 2, Nacarius Shannon (BG), Quintin Cooke (BG), Rogers (BG).

Records - Bowling Green 2-1, Appleton 2-2