DANVILLE -- The Danville Junior Division All-Stars knew one thing heading into their 4th of July elimination-bracket showdown with Berwick: They would have to score early to get at Berwick ace Kyle Miller.

"We hit heat a lot better than junk ball pitchers," said Danville manager Steve LeVan. "We were patient at the plate and we were able to get a couple of key hits that led to runs early."

Danville displayed its ability to hit the hard stuff by giving Berwick's ace an early exit in the second after scoring six runs in the first two innings en route to a 10-3 victory.

In the first, Nick LeVan drew a leadoff walk to give Danville its first base runner of the day. LeVan then moved along the base path by stealing second and advancing to third on a wild pitch. Andrew Andreychik then plated LeVan with a single. Danville finished the first leading 1-0.

Berwick (0-2) then answered in the top of the second when Cody Farver reached first on an error. Eric May then got his first RBI of the day when he drove Farver home on a single.

"This team is made up of mostly 13-year-olds," said Berwick manager Paul DiPippa. "We did some good things today, but we still have a lot to work on."

Danville (1-1) completed its goal of scoring early in the second by plating five runners on three hits. Danville was also able to knock Berwick's ace out of the game in the second thanks to seven batters getting him to throw five or more pitches in each at-bat. The bottom of the second opened with Cale Rice driving a single into the outfield. After three walks to score one and leave the bases loaded, Andreychik hit a sac fly to plate one more. Jamie Strausser then picked up two of his game-leading three RBIs when he drove the first pitch of his at-bat to the outfield for a single. Danville ended the second by knocking out Miller and moving their lead to 6-1.

"We wanted Miller to finish," said DiPippa. "Sometimes it takes pitchers a couple of innings to find their grove."

Berwick cut into Danville's lead in the top of the third when Kyle Miller reached first on a throwing error. Miller then got home after T.J. Lashock hit into a fielder's choice.

Danville finished the final four by plating a runner in each inning and holding Berwick to only one more run. "All of these kids are good enough to have multi-hit games," LeVan said. "We still have some work to do, but we played better today."

Danville now moves on to play Southern Columbia at 8 p.m. Sunday.