Black Sox drop decision to Travelers

The Soo Black Sox just hope they can put Tuesday night's game against the EUP Travelers behind them.

The Black Sox struggled both at the plate and in the field as the dropped a 5-2 decision at the hands of the Travelers. The Black Sox were coming off a second place finish in the Paul C. Andary Memorial Tournament, held in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan over the weekend.

"We had very little effort from a majority of our players," said coach Mike Lebel, who was filling in for Ryan Johns on the night. "For a majority of our players it seemed like the weekend burnt them out and we only had a few guys who were putting out any type of effort and it showed on the field.

"We got beat by a team who was ready to play and looking for a win," Lebel said. "They haven't had many this year and they were all over us. They took it to us. We had a couple of chances to get back in it but we fell behind."

Travelers coach Greg Rambo was pleased with his pitching, which gave him a better performance than he was hoping for.

"It was good all night," said Rambo. "The original plan was to have Zack Rambo throw two innings, McKinley Portice to throw three and then Rico Castro to throw two. McKinley had been throwing so well through the middle part of the game. The key thing is they all threw strikes. I don't know what we had for walks but it wasn't very many. That's been our achillies heel all season."

Joey Lesage paced the Black Sox offense with a pair of solo homeruns on the night and was solid at shortsop defensively.

"Joe was one of the few bright lights we had," Lebel said. "He probably been Mr. Consistency all year long. He made the plays for us in the infield as always. He was one of the steadying forces we had."

The Black Sox wrap up the home portion of their Great Lakes Baseball League schedule on Wednesday when they face the Alpena Summercats in a doubleheader. Game one kicks off at 4 p.m. The Black Sox will then wrap up their GLBL schedule on the road this weekend in Traverse City on Saturday and Mancelona on Sunday.

With a record of 8-2, the Black Sox still hold onto a slim lead atop the GLBL standings. The Summercats hold down the second spot and, with a sweep on Wednesday, could overtake the Black Sox for top spot. The Black Sox have won the GLBL title the past two seasons.