WILLIAMSPORT, Pennsylvania (WABC) -- New Jersey took the next step in the Little League World Series Tuesday night with a 2-0 win over the team from Rhode Island.
The Elmora Troopers, from Elizabeth, broke a scoreless tie by pushing across two runs in the top of the sixth inning, and their pitchers held Rhode Island to just one hit.
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They now move on to play River Ridge, Lousiana at 11 a.m. Wednesday.
The Troopers won in the Mid-Atlantic region to reach the Little League World Series and defeated Oregon in the opening game, 6-2, before losing to Hawaii 6-0 in the double-elimination tournament.
The Elmora Youth League team is named in honor of Thomas Hanratty, a state trooper who was struck by a passing vehicle and killed while walking back to his car during a traffic stop in 1992.
Hanratty played baseball for Elmora, and ever since his death, the league has honored him by nicknaming themselves "the Troopers" and wearing a patch with Hanratty's badge number, 4971, on their uniforms.
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Before the team's first game of the tournament Friday, the players were surprised by a few state police troopers and about eight busloads of fans from Elizabeth.
"Honestly, as a grown man, it was emotional," New Jersey manager Jairo Labrador said. "Because I know what it signifies and what it means to us and our league and what it represents."
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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