Black Sox blanked by Travellers

SAULT STE. MARIE, MI -- A masterful pitching performance spoiled the Soo Cambrian Mazda Midget Black Sox bid to get back on the winning track.

After going winless in the Delta County Jaycees tournament in Escanaba, Michigan over the weekend, the Black Sox continued their regular season schedule with a game against the EUP Travellers in Sault, Michigan. EUP pitcher Steve Taliman proceeded to give the Black Sox fits as the Travellers defeated the locals 4-0, giving up just two hits in the process.

"The whole teams strides off the pitching," said EUP coach Greg Rambo. "(Taliman) is probably our best pitcher. He pitched well and the kids made the plays in the field. They play well when there's good pitching and when there's poor pitching, everybody plays bad."

"He pitched well today," said Black Sox coach Ryan Johns. "He threw a lot of strikes and got ahead of our hitters. He had a lot of our hitters out on their front foot and that caused a lot of the weak pop flys in the infield."

The Black Sox looked to take an early lead as they managed to load the bases in the top of the first inning, thanks to three walks, only to strand all three runners. In the bottom of the inning, with runners on second and third, EUP gave Taliman all the run support he would need as a hard ground ball by Craig Wallis to second base scored Logan Paquet from third.

"In the first inning we had the three walks, the bases loaded and unfortunately we couldn't scored and after that we had two base runners until the fourth inning," said Johns. "When you don't hit the ball it makes it real tough for our guys to score runs."

The Travellers went up 2-0 in the fourth inning when Mike Suriano's suicide squeeze scored Curt Ben from third. Ben reached third after stealing second earlier in the inning and moving to third after a bad throw on the steal attempt.

A pair of runs in the fifth inning sealed the victory for the Travellers.

Kyle Sayers, who hit a pair of homeruns against EUP in the last meeting between the two clubs, broke up Taliman's no-hit bid in the sixth inning with a triple to right field. Wyatt Curry had the other Black Sox hit, a triple in the seventh inning.

Midland, Michigan is the next stop on the schedule for the Black Sox as they take part in the Gabby Mills July 4 Invitational. The Black Sox open the tournament on Saturday when they face the Macomb Dawg's at noon.