Another Black Sox split leaves team waiting

The Soo Black Sox will need some help if they hope to advance to the finals of the Coca Cola Classic Invitational Tournament.

The locals put themselves in a tough position early on when they dropped an 11-1 decision to the Marquette Blues in their first game of a back-to-back double header. The Sox were held to just one hit and saw just six runners reach base, which included Kyle Diotte, who was the only Sox player to reach base twice with a single and a walk.

The Blues, despite being held to six hits in the game, took advantage of their chances. The Blues also capitalized on six errors committed by the Black Sox in the game. The Blues got off to an early lead going up 3-0 after one inning and broke things open in the third.

Some costly errors by the Sox allowed the Blues to score seven runs on just two hits in the inning and capped the victory off with a single run in the fifth inning to seal the win.

Presten Hutchens was the recipient of two of those errors, reaching base twice in the game, both times on Sox errors. Dylan Jurasin went the distance for Marquette and helped his own cause by hitting a three-run homerun in the seven-run third.

Black Sox assistant coach Mike Lebel, who was filling in for head coach Ryan Johns, who missed both games due to work commitments, was disappointed with the effort he received from his club.

"It was basically a big letdown defensively and pitching-wise," Lebel said. "The one inning that put the game in hand they scored seven runs on two hits. We had a couple of walks, an error, a hit-batsman and a three-run homerun."

In their second game of the day, the Black Sox used a masterful pitching performance from Kyle Sayers, who pitched a complete-game three hitter to post an 8-1 victory over Sudbury Bristol. Sayers also added a double and a triple at the plate to help his own cause. David DaDalt scored a pair of walks and a single in the victory.

"It was nice for the kids to rebound," Lebel said of the victory over Sudbury. "We'd like to be a little more consistent. Kyle Sayers threw the ball really well. He had lots of pop on the ball in the last inning and we scored a few runs so hopefully that will carry us through to the final."

In other action on Saturday, Sudbury picked up a win over the E.U.P. Travellers while Gladwin then posted an 18-8 win over the Travellers. In the night cap Gladwin handed Marquette their first loss of the tournament by defeating the Blues 6-2.

Following two days of action the locals find themselves sitting with a 2-2 record but remain in a tough position. Gladwin and Marquette enter Sunday's action at 2-1 while Sudbury and E.U.P. sit at 1-2.

Victories by Gladwin and Marquette in the morning games on Sunday would eliminate the Black Sox, but should Gladwin lose to Sudbury; the scenario would create a tie in the standings at 2-2.

The tie would lead to the Sault advancing due to their 10-0 victory over Gladwin on Friday night. A Sudbury victory and a victory by the E.U.P. Travellers over Marquette would create a five-way tie at 2-2, which would mean the tie-breaker would come down to run differential, which would help the Sox..

"That's the worst part (the waiting)," Lebel said. "You would rather just win or lose it on the field instead of sitting around waiting to see what the results are from other games."

Action in the Coca-Cola Classic wraps up on Sunday as Marquette and E.U.P. open the day's action at 9 a.m. which will be followed by Gladwin and Sudbury at 11:30 a.m. The Championship game, which will feature the first and second place teams from the round robin is scheduled for 2 p.m. All games will be played on the main field at Sinclair Yards.

(PHOTOS: Action from the Gladwin/Marquette game)