Great Lakes  (Jeffersonville, IN), ace Drew Ellis pitched a no-hitter in  his Little League World Series debut. Unfortunately for him and his Jeffersonville teammates, Ellis walked three batters, hit  one and threw four wild pitchers and Southwest (Hagerstown, MD).,  pulled off a 3-2 comeback win in Pool A.

In the fateful fifth inning – with Jeffersonville leading 2-1 – Ellis hit one batter and walked another. Nick Karlen, then pinch runner Mark Grunberg then scored on wild pitches to give Hagerstown the lead for good, 3-2. “Drew got a little wild and (catcher) Josh (Burke) had trouble handling some of the fastballs, but what are you going to do,” Jeff coach Derek Ellis said. “(My hat is) off to Maryland for hanging in there. I thought we had it.” Derek!http://community.active.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/38-20463/Derek-Ellis.jpg?blogID=8913&blogPostID=9629|height=249|style=padding:8px;|align=right|width=357|src=http://community.active.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/38-20463/Derek-Ellis.jpg?blogID=8913&blogPostID=9629! Ellis said his pitcher got a little upset with the strike zone of home plate umpire Mark Bernstein, but that “the umpire was fair. (Drew) just got a little wild and (catcher) Josh (Burke) had a little trouble with some of the pitches.” “This (loss) stings a little bit,” said Ellis, Drew’s father, at the postgame press conference. “I thought we had it.”

“They’ve been very resilient all summer. They really do not quit,” Hagerstown coach Bill Abeles said of his squad. “They didn’t quit going into the …end of that game. We knew we had six outs to try to put the ball in play and we stole a game.”

A costly error hurt by Jeffersonville in the first inning. Hagerstown first baseman Zane Schreiber walked, then later scored when Jeff centerfielder Austin Hines failed to catch a pop up. Hines made amends, however, in the third inning when he hit a one-out homer to opposite field off of Hagerstown starter Andrew Yacyk to tie the score at one. Jeffersonville, which had only three hits of its own, took its only lead in the fourth. Chandler Dale led off the inning with a double and later scored on a Ben Shahroudi single.

Jeff got a runner to third base with one out of the sixth inning when Hayden Robb drew walk, went to third on two wild pitches by reliever Josh Barron. However, Barron got Burke to ground out to third base to end the threat and the game. “(Barron has been) a very solid closer for us,” Abeles said. “He’s got a nice little curveball and hits his spots. I know when I call a pitch to (catcher) Dalton Jobe, he’s going to hit it.”

Jeffersonville’s next contest is Sunday at 3:30 p.m. vs. Mill Creek, Wash. Mill Creek fell to St. Charles, La., on Saturday. Hagerstown will put its unblemished mark on the line against Mill Creek at 8 p.m. on Sunday.

*BOX SCORE

Jeffersonville*, Ind. 001 100 – 2 3 1

Hagerstown

, Md.100 02x – 3 0 1

W – Josh Barron (1-0). L – Drew Ellis (0-1). 2B – Chandler Dale  (J). HR – Austin Hines (J).

Pool A Records – Jeffersonville  0-1, Hagerstown  1-0.