Black Sox enter first place showdown

The Soo Mazda Midget Black Sox set themselves up for a first place showdown on Saturday after sweeping a doubleheader with the Alpena Wildcats on Saturday night.

The Black Sox defeated the Wildcats by scores of 10-8 in the early game and 11-1 in the nightcap. The pair of wins improved the Black Sox Great Lakes Baseball League record to 6-1 and also set up a battle for first place with the Traverse City Rockets on Sunday in Sault Ste. Marie.

The pair of wins came on the heels of a tough exhibition loss to the Escanaba Cubs earlier in the day. The Black Sox dropped a 15-5 decision to the Cubs.

"It was a slow start (against Alpena), but we scored four runs in the sixth inning of the (first) game and that got our momentum going into (game two)," said Black Sox coach Ryan Johns of the sweep. "Unfortunately it took us a couple extra innings to finish it, but the boys played well today and it was a good day for them with the bats."

Tyler Wilson was the hero in the early game clinching the win for the Black Sox in the sixth inning when he drove a pitch down the first base line and into the corner, knocking in a pair of runs before scoring himself on a bad throw to home. The triple plus the errant throw gave the locals the 10-8 lead.

Wilson, Tyler Binkley, J.J. Bergamin, and Jacob Lake had a pair of hits each while Wyatt Curry had a pair of walks in the win. Andrew Toni pitched six innings while Bryce Grimard struck out the side in the seventh to seal the win.

A six-run fourth inning in game two led the Sox to victory. Curry and Kyle Moon had strong games at the plate, Curry with three walks and a single while Moon walked three times. Jacob Yukich went the distance on the mound for the Black Sox and had a solid outing, with a run in the fifth inning as his only blemish.

The wins set up the battle for top spot as Traverse City will take on the Black Sox locally in a double header on Sunday. Game one is set for noon. The Rockets were in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan on Saturday taking on the EUP Travellers in a doubleheader. Scores for the games were not readily available.

"(Sunday's) an important day for us," said Johns. "Traverse City was undefeated going into today and we had one loss, so tomorrow's a big day for us to have an opportunity to finish first and with the Great Lakes Baseball League."

*** EXHIBITION RECAP:

The Black Sox found themselves behind the eight ball early against the Cubs as they were down 11-0 before the game was into the bottom of the third inning.

The locals attempted to claw their way back into things in the bottom of the inning, putting up five runs including a three-run homerun by Tyler Binkley, but the Cubs four runs in the final two innings to seal the 15-5 victory.

"(Escanaba) was a team we wanted to play, but the only way we could get them into the schedule was to put them in here today and play two more tonight (against Alpena)," said Black Sox coach Mike Lebel.

The two teams played on Wednesday night in Escanaba with the Cubs winning both end of a doubleheader by scores of 10-1 and 10-4.

"I thought it was important for our team to play a team of this caliber," Lebel added. "Most of those kids were on the Escanaba high school team that went to the state finals. They lost in the championship. They're a nice team. They put the ball in play and they attack the ball. If you make a few mistakes they capitalize on them. That's was a good experience for our kids to play that team today.