Kentucky drops opener at Little League World Series

Taylors, South Carolina’s Braden Golinski (12) is greeted by teammates after hitting a two-run home run off Bowling Green, Kentucky’s Ty Bryant during the second inning of an United States elimination baseball game at the Little League World Series tournament in South Williamsport, Pa., Monday, August 24, 2015.

Taiwan will play Monday against the loser of Sunday’s game between Uganda and Venezuela. and Cranston.

Bowling Green will play at 7 p.m. Tuesday against the victor of Monday night’s game between Cranston, R.I. and Bonita, Cali.

Mendez went 3 for 3 and shut down Cranston over the final five innings.

MEXICO 14, AUSTRALIA 3 – Mexico scored nine runs in the first inning to eliminate Australia in four innings.

Bonita’s Dante Schmid hit a solo homer in the sixth and has homered in all three Series games.

Rhode Island actually seized the initial momentum with two runs in the first inning. The game was stopped after the top of the fourth inning. An inning earlier, he had a leadoff single sparked in a three-run inning.

Uganda finished 1-2 in the nation’s second LLWS appearance.

Taylors is the first South Carolina team to win a game at the series.

Gerardo Lujano and Andres Villa each hit 2-run doubles in the first inning. Derik Lopez and Gerardo Lujano scored twice each. But the Mexicans had simply too much firepower on the day, pushing across two runs in the second and third innings and one run in the fourth to trigger the 10-run rule.

Blake Cavill was a bright spot for Australia, finishing with two hits and an RBI. Spencer Scott hit a three-run home run and Cooper Shaw followed with a home run that made it 7-5. Kentucky will try to avoid elimination Saturday against Oregon.

Rodriguez led off the first inning with a home run then hit another in the fifth inning to make it 7-3.

He also earned the win pitching.

The five home runs in an inning — hit by five different players as part of an 11-run inning — tied a series record set in 1992 by the Dominican Republic.

Nolan Miga and Kyle Oslund each had two hits for Portland.