Black Sox sweep Traverse City

A masterful pitching performance and clutch hitting led the Soo Black Sox to a sweep of the Traverse City Rockets on Sunday afternoon at Strathclair fields

Tyler Binkley threw a one-hitter as the Black Sox won the opening game by a 10-0 score. The single Binkley gave up in the sixth inning was the lone baserunner the Rockets had in the game and the veteran Black Sox hurler was perfect through five innings.

"I was just trying to locate the ball down and spin the slider somewhere in the zone," Binkley said of his performance. "With two strikes (I tried to) put it in and bring it out of the zone to give them something they couldn't hit. It worked all game."

"Tyler threw a lot of strikes and kept us in the game the whole way," said coach Ryan Johns. "Our defense played well behind Tyler to give him the opportunity. He only gave up the one hit. Offensively our guys hit the ball. We put a lot of balls in play to put pressure on Traverse City the whole way."

The veteran right hander needed just 66 pitches, 47 for strikes, to hole the Rockets at bay. Binkley struck out nine hitters in the win and also managed to secure six ground ball outs.

"You always want it and you always think about it," Binkley said of the perfect game opportunity. "It's never really happened to me before."

Binkley also said that there was extra motivation as the game wore on. In the opening inning, Traverse City pitcher Chris Reed hit a pair of Black Sox hitters – Wyatt Curry and Andrew Toni – and also hit three Black Sox hitters later in the game – Kyle Diotte, Chris Buonomo, and Toni again. Binkley said the added motivation was there to continue his solid performance.

"I wasn't exactly happy with how the game was going," Binkley said. "That just made me go and fueled the fire."

The second game saw the Black Sox struggle at times but have their offensive game pull them through as they defeated the Rockets 11-7.

J.J. Bergamin started the game but left early on with a sore elbow. Andrew Toni, Jacob Lake, and Wyatt Curry finished off the game and held the Rockets at bay.

"We ran into a problem half way through the second game. Our pitchers didn't throw strikes and we were allowing guys to get one base with walks," said Johns. "We just had a mental lapse for a few innings that kind of slowed us down."

The Black Sox received another strong performance in the doubleheader from Wyatt Curry who hit a homerun and two singles in the second game while also pitching late to preserve the second game lead. The veteran also had a single and a double in the opening game.

"Wyatt is a true athlete," Johns said. "He's capable of playing any position on the entire baseball field. He's really been hitting the ball well for us. When he's been called upon to come in and pitch he's been throwing the ball over the plate throwing a lot of strikes."

Curry credited his approach to the game as the reason he has managed to be successful recently.

"As far as getting big hits, I'm trying to take the same approach in every at-bat," Curry said of his success this season. "I haven't really been on the mound a lot this year but it's nice to be able to come in in a league game like this and shut them down. I got in a groove right away in the bullpen (before coming in) and then came in. I didn't bother going from the wind-up. I just went from the stretch the whole to and threw a lot of strikes."

After playing four games in three days the Black Sox have an off-day on Monday before taking on the EUP Travellers at Strathclair fields on Tuesday night in a 7 p.m. start. The following night the Black Sox will host Alpena in a doubleheader beginning at 6 p.m.