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In the 25th Sanilac County Baseball tournament, the Pioneers grabbed their 14th title by edging Brown City, 8-7, in the semis and then overpowering Deckerville, 10-1, in the championship game at CPS high school. Cros-Lex also defended their 2007 title.

"It's always a goal for us to win the County tournament. We feel we should be in the championship game every year," averred Mike Holes, Cros-Lex coach. "We were fortunate enough to put things together and have a good Saturday."

The Pioneers, who pushed their overall record to 10-4, chipped away at a Deckerville team that had not been to a championship game in the tournament in many seasons. They scored once in the first and two more times in the second inning before opening up a bigger lead with three runs in both the fourth and fifth innings off the Eagles' Adam VanNorman. The sophomore hurler was just brought up from the JV team and making his varsity debut on the mound.

Back-to-back triples to deep center by Cameron Barrett and Justin Walls brought home two of the runs in the fourth. In the next inning, Adam Palleschi delivered a two-run single.

Steve Noble, Deckerville coach, was proud of VanNorman's effort on the mound. The Eagles had used the rest of their pitchers in two GTC East games on Thursday and in the long semifinal win Saturday over CPS.

"He exceeded my expectations," said Noble. "He maintained his composure through a tough Cros-Lex line-up."

On the other side, the Pioneers had a strong effort from senior Jason Myers, who worked six innings, allowing three singles and striking out eight. The lone run he allowed came on a pair of wild pitches, in the rain, in the sixth inning.

"This is his third start of the season. He's pitched in three big non-conference games," noted Holes. "Definitely, it was a key for us having Jason on the mound. He's really improved since last year."

Barrett and Palleschi led C-L's 11-hit attack with two hits each.

The Eagles saw their record fall to 6-13.

"We weren't just happy to be there (in the title game)," explained Noble. "We were ready to play. Were we outmatched by Cros-Lex? Yeah, probably, but we played hard."

Semifinals

Cros-Lex 8 Brown City 7
The Pioneers had built a 6-0 lead but BC roared back to tie the game with seven runs in the fifth and sixth innings.
C-L then pushed across the winning run in the bottom of the sixth. Derek Sheridan led off with a base hit, stole second and moved to third on a fly out. Brad Seidl then singled to score Sheridan.
"You don't want to give up a lead like that... but we came up with a big hit when we needed it," said Holes.
Barrett again led the Pioneer hitting with a pair of doubles. Codee Sutton drilled a solo home run and Zach Fabin drove in a pair of runs. Cody Carlson went the distance on the mound to collect the win, allowing eight hits and fanning eight.
The Green Devils, 11-3 overall through Saturday, had two hits and two RBI from Justin Holsworth.

Deckerville 15 CPS 14
In a game that lasted two hours and forty-five minutes, the Eagles rallied from a seven-run deficit by posting eight runs in the top of the sixth inning. Sophomore Josh Fritch laced a bases-loaded triple to drive in the winning runs in the sixth.
Fritch had four hits in the game while teammate Jim Nichol had two hits and an RBI.
Kyle O'Mara was the winning pitcher in relief. Nick Taylor came in to get the final two outs and earned a save.
James Lusher, CPS ace, pitched the first five innings, fanning 13, and left the game with a 14-7 lead, giving up just three earned runs.
The Tigers had two singles and an RBI from Dustin Maher, a pair of hits from David Barylski, an RBI double from Eric Taylor, and RBI singles from Ryan Mackey and Justin Hale.