Sox end exhibition series with win

The Soo Black Sox are going into the OBA Midget ‘AA’ Championships in Sarnia next weekend on a high note.

The Black Sox swept a pair of games against the Thunder Bay Mountain Hawks, including an 8-1 victory on Sunday. The Black Sox won a rain-shortened six-inning decision on Saturday by a 9-3 score. The games marked the Black Sox final two games before the OBA Championships next weekend.

“It’s very important for our team as a whole to get into game aspects,” said Black Sox coach Ryan Johns. “Unfortunately our season is short with the Great Lakes Baseball League and it’s tough sometimes to find games. Thunder Bay was a huge benefit to us for them to come up here and to have a home-and-home series.”

On Sunday, the Sox received a solid pitching performance from Kyle Sayers and Andrew Toni who combined to give up just two hits over seven innings. Offensively meanwhile, the Black Sox opened the game up in the second inning when they used four hits to take a 5-0 lead over the Mountain Hawks. On top of two quality innings on the mound, Toni added a pair of singles in the win while Justin Soltys, Nick Moon, Joey Lesage, and Ian Miles also reached base three times in the win.

“For positives, there were a lot of them,” Johns said of the two wins. “We hit the ball very well. The guys that have been struggling of late started to hit the ball hard. We made the transition from using aluminum to wood which has been a huge boost to our team. A lot of guys were concerned about that but nobody’s had any problems. Our pitching has been very strong. All our pitchers have been throwing a lot of strikes and getting ahead of hitters. It’s tough to lose ballgames when you’re getting ahead and hitting the ball.”

The Black Sox now face four days of practice before departing for Sarnia on Friday morning. The locals open the Ontario Baseball Association Midget ‘AA’ Championship on Friday evening at 6 p.m. against the Brantford Red Sox.