And the best part: they beat Ohio to win it, 5-2.

Here's what you need to win baseball games: clutch hitting.

Michigan only had ten base runners in Sunday's Little League World Series title game against Ohio, but they drove five of them home to earn a 5-2 victory and the championship.

Ohio, meanwhile, put 14 runners on, including three innings where they loaded the bases, but could only muster two runs, and that was the difference.

Jackson Surma drove in four runs on a pair of two run singles to pace the team from the Taylor North Little League near Detroit to the state's second ever Little League title. Surma also scored a run.

The Ohio team, representing Hamilton, loaded the bases with one out in the top of the first inning off Taylor starter Ethan Van Belle, only to have Van Belle pitch his way out of the jam by getting a pop out and a strike out to end the uprising.

“That was very important,” Taylor coach Rick Thorning told the Detroit News after the game. “Ethan was throwing a lot of pitches that inning. … To get out of that with no damage was great. It kind of set the tone a little bit.”

Michigan then added three runs in the bottom of the inning when Surma knocked home Gavin Ulin and Cameron Thorning with a sharp single to left, and scored himself on a Jakob Farkas ground out to make it 3-0.

Ohio picked up a run in the second inning, and the game stayed at 3-1 until the bottom of the fifth when Surma struck again, sending a fastball up the middle to centerfield to drive in Lucas Farner and Ulin to make it 5-1.

Things got tense in the sixth and final inning when Ulin, on in relief of Van Belle loaded the bases with one out and then walked in a run to make it 5-2. But after some encouraging words from his head coach, Ulin settled down and got Chase Retherford to fly out to centerfielder Farkas, clinching the win and setting off a celebration.

“I had a rough two innings out there,” Ulin said after the game “ … I was a little worried there, but once I got out of it and got him to pop up, I was so happy. It was beyond words.”

The last Michigan team to win the LLWS title was Hamtramck back in 1959.

MICHIGAN'S TAYLOR NORTH ALL STARS CELEBRATE STATE's FIRST LITTLE LEAGUE SINCE 1959

2021 Little League World Series Final - Team Michigan v Team Ohio
Jackson Surma flexes after driving in two runs with a fifth inning double. Getty Images
loading...
2021 Little League World Series Final - Team Michigan v Team Ohio
Ethan Van Belle scoops up a ground ball to help kill an Ohio rally in the sixth inning. Getty Images
loading...
2021 Little League World Series Final - Team Michigan v Team Ohio
Taylor North players celebrate by dumping Gatorade on coach Rick Thorning. Getty Images
loading...
2021 Little League World Series Final - Team Michigan v Team Ohio
Taylor North run to celebrate with their fans after earning the little League title Sunday in Williamsport PA Getty Images
loading...
2021 Little League World Series Final - Team Michigan v Team Ohio
The team from Hamilton Ohio congratulates Michigan after falling short in the Little League championship game Getty Images
loading...
2021 Little League World Series Final - Team Michigan v Team Ohio
Gavin Ulin bears down to get the final out after loading the bases in the final inning. Getty Images
loading...
2021 Little League World Series Final - Team Michigan v Team Ohio
The Taylor North All Stars tip their caps to the fans after winning the Little League World Series. Getty Images
loading...

 

More From 100.5 FM The River