El Segundo stays alive in Little League World Series after dominant win over Rhode Island

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (KABC) -- The all-stars from El Segundo avoided elimination in the Little League World Series with a dominant win over Rhode Island Tuesday.

In a must-win game, the team from Southern California beat its counterpart from the Smithfield (Rhode Island) Little League by a score of 9-3.

Louis Lappe and Max Baker limited Smithfield to one hit over the first five innings of the six-inning game, and Brody Brooks and Lucas Keldorf each had two RBIs and two hits in the elimination-bracket game at Howard J. Lamade Stadium.

El Segundo will need to win Wednesday and Thursday to reach Saturday's U.S. championship game. The U.S. champion will face the international champion for the world championship Sunday. El Segundo's next game on Wednesday is against Tennessee at 4 p.m. and it will be televised on ESPN.

The SoCal team was coming off a tough 3-1 loss to Texas on Monday, which sent them to the elimination bracket. So far, they are 2-1 in the tournament.

El Segundo is among four teams remaining in contention for the U.S. championship from the original field of 10.

City News Service contributed to this report.