Luckily for Norwalk, Connecticut, Elvin Pascual was just tall enough.

The New England Region champion’s first baseman leaped to secure a high throw from third baseman Aidan Brehm and came down on the bag just before Jamestown’s Judd Harris to secure a 4-3 victory in the first quarterfinal at Diethrick Park.

“It was crazy. That’s probably the most stressed I’ve been in a while,” said Norwalk head coach Mike Hughes. “Elvin is an anchor over there. He’ll get it up and he’ll get it low. I just wanted to make sure the umpires saw the same thing we did.”

The win sent Norwalk into Friday evening’s first semifinal against Ohio Valley Region champion Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Times Observer Photo by Matt Spielman The Jamestown Krusaders’ James Johnson stands at first base with coach Mike Navarro and Norwalk, Connecticut’s Elvin Pascual after Johnson hit a single during the Babe Ruth 13-year-old World Series quarterfinals Friday at Diethrick Park in Jamestown, N.Y.

“The doubleheader makes it tough. Our strength is pitching and defense,” Hughes said at the time. “We’ll have a couple of arms ready.”

For Jamestown, it ended a 2-3 week at the World Series that saw the Krusaders become the first host team to ever advance out of pool play in 40 years.

“I don’t think many people around this area expected much out of us. … I knew we were going to play well,” said Jamestown head coach Shane Swan. “To say this was a failure? Absolutely not. We did things that Jamestown teams have never done before… We made it into bracket play. That says something.”

Swan’s team didn’t go quietly.

Trailing 4-1 entering the top of the seventh inning, Chase Haglund reached on a one-out error before Nash Luther grounded into a fielder’s choice. Blake Herman kept the inning alive when he reached on a dropped fly ball in right-center field as Luther went to third base.

“We always preach finishing the game. Twenty-one outs is a game we do at practice,” Hughes said. ” … Even when we have someone make a mistake, we’re going to pick them up. That’s what we did.”

After Herman took second on a defensive indifference, Branston Lindquist hit a two-run single to left field. When Norwalk threw home, Lindquist took second and he went all the way to third as the throw got away from the catcher.

“When I went out to the mound I said ‘None of this matters when we get this kid out,'” Hughes said. ” … That’s what he did.”

With a 1-1 count, Harris hit the grounder to third that ended the game.

“Judd is one of those kids. … I would’ve been shocked had he struck out there. The kid puts the ball in play,” Swan said. “When the third baseman let it go, I thought it was an overthrow. … The first baseman made a good play to get the out.”

Norwalk pitcher Freddie Melton was the story for most of the day. The right-hander went 6 1/3 innings and allowed seven hits, two walks and one run while striking out 10.

“He is the definition of an ace. He’s just a bulldog on the mound,” Hughes said. “He’s always going to have the same mentality. … He’s going to go right at you.”

Melton’s teammates gave him a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Chase DePalma reached on a one-out error and went to third on a single by Pascual before Jamestown threw behind Pascual at first base and the ball got away. DePalma scored without a throw.

Jamestown got on the board in the top of the third inning when Haglund reached on a one-out single, stole second and went to third on a throwing error. With two outs, Herman hit an RBI single to right field.

Norwalk regained the lead in the bottom of the fourth. Matthew Vahle reached on an infield single and went to second on an error.

“A couple of errors there in the third,” Swan said, “without those it’s a totally different game.”

Konstantinos Panagiotidis followed with a sacrifice bunt before Brehm hit an RBI single. That was the second of three hits from Brehm, who was making his first start of the tournament.

“He’s not a regular starter. We knew it was time to give him a shot today,” Hughes said of Brehm. “He rose up and had a heck of a game. Without him, we don’t win that game, plain and simple.”

Matthew Rinaldi was then hit by a pitch and Dylan Izzi reached on an infield single before DePalma hit a two-run single to left field. Jamestown got out of the inning with a double play, but the damage was done.

“When they grabbed the three runs in that one inning,” Swan said, “I thought our guys started to tighten up a little bit.”

Norwalk turned a double play to get out of the fifth inning and Melton struck out two in the sixth to put his team in position to advance in the seventh.

“I knew we weren’t going to quit,” Swan said. ” … We just came up a little bit short.”

NOTES: Herman and Melton were named the Ron Tellefsen Players of the Game for their respective teams. … Ashton Putney started for Jamestown and threw two innings, allowing three hits and an unearned run. Herman threw the final four innings and struck out four while allowing six hits, three runs and a walk. … Haglund had two hits while six other players had singles for the Krusaders. … Pascual and Vahle each had two hits for Norwalk.