SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Kalen Pimentel sure is having a grand time in the Little League World Series.

Pimentel hit his second grand slam in two games to lead undefeated Rancho Buena Vista of Vista, Calif., to a 9-3 win over Lafayette, La., yesterday.

Pimentel's fourth-inning slam broke the game open for Rancho Buena Vista (3-0) and followed one he hit Sunday that snapped a tie. Pimentel also tied a Little League World Series record for a six-inning game with 18 strikeouts on Saturday.

On the mound or at the plate, Pimentel is making Rancho Buena Vista a championship favorite. Pimentel joked the ball was looking pretty big to him in this series.

"It's not as big as a pumpkin, but that's pretty close," he said.

Also yesterday, Westbrook, Maine, beat Owensboro (Ky.) Southern, 3-2; Venezuela beat Saudi Arabia, 4-0; Surrey, British Columbia, was a 2-1 winner over Moscow; and Guam beat Mexico, 5-3.

Today, Japan will play Canada in an International semifinal, and Rancho Buena Vista will face Maitland, Fla., in a United States semifinal. In the other semifinal games tomorrow, Guam will play defending series champion Willemstad, Curacao, and West O'ahu of 'Ewa Beach will face Lafayette, La.

"We've prepared all we can do," Rancho Buena Vista manager Marty Miller said. "We've won 23 straight games now. We don't want to teach the kids how to lose."

Austin White earned the win for California, allowing one run and five hits over three innings.

Reed Reznicek added a two-run homer for Rancho Buena Vista and Royce Copeland pitched out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam when the game was still tight.

Trailing 5-1 entering the fourth, Lafayette (2-1) tacked on another run thanks to a throwing error and loaded the bases looking ready to get back into the game.

But Copeland struck out Brenn Conrad on a wild pitch and Alex Miller was thrown out at the plate for a double play. Then Copeland got Jace Conrad to strike out to end the rally as chants of "RBV! RBV!" erupted from the crowd.

Copeland struck out four in three innings of relief.

Pimentel made Lafayette regret the missed opportunity a little more with his grand slam off reliever Ryan Bergeron in the bottom half of the inning, giving him nine RBIs in three games.

"I just tried putting a good swing on it," Pimentel said.

Rancho Buena Vista already had a United States semifinal bid secured and seemed on its way to an early blowout, taking a 3-0 lead off losing starter Connor Toups in the first inning.

Lafayette's Conrad crushed a solo homer about 300 feet — or nearly 100 yards past the 205-foot center-field fence sign — in the third to make it 3-1.

Reznicek then added a two-run shot in the third for a 5-1 Rancho Buena Vista lead.

Maine 3, Kentucky 2: Zach Collett hit a three-run homer in the third inning to rally Westbrook, Maine (1-2). Trailing 2-0, Westbrook had two runners on when Collett crushed one over the right-center fence for a 3-2 lead and sent the fans scurrying for the ball.

"It felt good right off the bat," Collett said. "Once it went out, it felt even better."

Owensboro finished 0-3. Kentucky went up 2-0 in the third on an RBI double from Dalton West and an RBI groundout from Luke Daugherty.

Guam 5, Mexico 3: Sean Manley hit a two-run single to highlight a four-run fifth inning and Trae Santos struck out nine to lead Mangilao-Barrigada, Guam (3-0). Mexico finished 1-2.

Canada 2, Russia 1: Alex Dunbar struck out 10 and tossed a four-hitter for Surrey, British Columbia (2-1). Moscow (0-3) committed two errors in the first inning that led to two unearned runs.

Venezuela 4, Saudi Arabia 0: Victor Sequera and Richard Alvarez combined for eight strikeouts and allowed two hits for Latin America champion Valencia (1-2). Dhahran (0-3) failed to score a run in its three games.