It has not been done in conventional style, but the result is just the same as Hoosier North earned a spot in the Colt World Series semi-final medals round, reserved for the final four remaining from the tenteam field.

Hoosier North, the "Area Host" team entered this year's tournament with a 3-14 record and had lost 11-in-a-row until Saturday's 3-2 come-frombehind victory over Greensboro, N.C. They did it again Sunday night with another hard-fought come-from-waybehind 12-11 victory over Grand Ledge, Mich., to earn a berth in the semi-finals.

Trailing 7-0 in the 2nd inning and 11-7 entering the 7th and final inning were not enough to keep the improving Hoosier North squad out of the medals round.

Coupled with the victory on Saturday that also came in the bottom of the 7th inning, this squad has shown a propensity for last-inning drama and heroics.

The only exception was squandering a 4-0 lead in the 7th inning in the first outing on Thursday night into a 5-4 defeat against Central Michigan. A 9-1 loss Monday night against Covina, Calif., meant virtually nothing other than determining semi-final seeds. Both teams had already guaranteed advancement.

But the two victories were enough to give Hoosier North both the wins and tie-breaker it needed in order to place in the top two of the "White Division" and advance to play the top two finishers from the "Red Division."

Hoosier North, the No. 2 White Division seed, will now face McAllen, Texas, the No. 1 Red Division seed, in Tuesday night's semi-finals at Loeb Stadium, Lafayette, played too late for print in this week's Comet.

The winner of that contest will then face the winner of Covina, the White Division No. 1 seed, vs. Puerto Rico, the Red Division No. 2 seed, in the Gold Medal Championship game scheduled for Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Hoosier North has plenty of local players on its 17-man roster, including three members of Delphi's Sectional-winning baseball team from last season.

Junior-to-be Neil Snoeberger earned an every day starting spot at second base and has continued to carry a hot bat to the plate throughout the summer, which has now extended an extra 40 games since the early-June tryouts.

Sophomore-to-be Austin Hawn has earned series starts both at first base and on the mound for Hoosier North, while junior-to-be Tanner Cripe has seen series action in several relief appearances on the mound.

The rest of the team is comprised of players chosen after the tryout process from seven area high schools including Lafayette Jeff, McCutcheon, Logansport, Benton Central, Crawfordsville and Frontier.

The "Local Host" team from Lafayette competed in the 'Red Division' and did not advance to the medals round.

This year's Colt World Series field was comprised of ten teams of 15-and 16-year-olds that also included Mexico and the Czech Republic, who play under the PONY Baseball, Inc. blanket.