Chicago's Jackie Robinson West clinched a spot in Friday's single-elimination   semifinal round of the Great Lakes Region in Indianpolis. A 7-3 victory over Mt.   Vernon, Ohio, gives the Illinois state champions a 2-2 mark in round robin pool   play and put them two wins away from the Little League World Series in   Williamsport, Pa. As it turned out, had West given up one more run - at any   point in the tournament - it would have failed to make it to the semifinal   round.



!http://community.active.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/38-19637/Team-Illinois-talk-things-over.jpg?blogID=8913|style=padding:8px;|align=left|src=http://community.active.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/38-19637/Team-Illinois-talk-things-over.jpg?blogID=8913!The tiebreaker is determined comes down to head-to-head between to the two teams that have surrendered the most runs per inning. It turned out that Ohio, which has surrendered 17 runs in 24 innings for .70 runs per inning, and Wisconsin were the bottom two teams. Ohio's 7-4 come-from-behind win over Wisconsin gave Ohio the edge. West, which gave up 16 runs in 23 innings (.70 runs per inning), would have been head-to-head with Wisconsin if it had given up one more run - or if Ohio had surrendered one fewer - the tiebreaker would have come down to Illinois and Wisconsin. Wisconsin beat West, 4-1 on Monday. West's semifinal round opponent will be Indiana.

On Wednesday, Wendall Ferguson - despite giving up his first three runs in region play - was masterful again, picking up his second win during the week. Ferguson gave up two runs in the first inning, giving Mt. Vernon a 2-0 lead after one, but he settled down and gave just one more run on one more hit in 5.2 innings. He struck out 10 Ohio batters. Ferguson was also the offensive star. He went 2-for-4, scoring twice and knocking in three runs on a home run in West's four-run third inning that gave it the lead for good. Ferguson also doubled and scored in the fifth inning, giving West two crucial runs and a 6-2 lead. Marcellus Sneed hit his first home run of the tournament in the third inning. Darrien Clifton continued with his hot bat, going 1-for-2 with two walks. He scored twice and had a RBI double. Six different West batters earned a base hit. Diontrell Earls knocked in a run and scored another.

BOX SCORE

    Chicago, Ill. 004 021 - 7 7 0

  Mt. Vernon,   Ohio 200 001 - 3 4 4

  W - Wendall Ferguson (2-0). L - Jayben   Martin (0-2). S - Darrien Clifton (2). 2B - Ferguson (C), HR -   Marcellus Sneed (C), Ferguson (C).

Records - Chicago 2-2, Mt. Vernon 2-2