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PUBLISHED: Wednesday, May 14, 2008
East baseball title in reach of Green Devils

Sweep of Mayville aids cause


MAYVILLE -- Fair to partly cloudy is the forecast for Brown City's chances at a GTC East baseball title. Fair because the Green Devils moved to 8-1 in the division after a sweep of Mayville, defending champion, last Thursday; partly cloudy because of some unresolved outcomes in key contests.

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Brown City took both ends of the twinbill against Mayville, 7-5 and 3-2, to solidify a hold on second place behind Ubly, which is now 9-0. While the Devils will need a couple of wins at home against Harbor Beach this Friday to, at least, stay within a game of the top, the Mayville- Ubly doubleheader (at Ubly) this past Monday was washed out and must be made up. Earlier in the season, BC suffered its lone loss in the East in the opener, at home, against Ubly, but was leading , 6-3, in the nightcap when the game was called because of darkness after four innings. The completion of that game could very well be necessary to decide the division outcome.

The Devils put themselves fully into a championship bid in the East with last Thursday's key road victories at Mayville. BC overcame its own five errors for a victory in the opener and had some clutch pitching and hitting from Ed Rayba in the 3-2 win in game two.

"It was huge," said BC coach Tom Long on the sweep of the Wildcats. "The intensity in the two games was the highest it's been all year. The kids knew (the league) was coming down to the wire."

The Devils broke a 3-3 tie in the top of the third by scoring three times and then added an insurance run in the fourth.

Senior Andre Sanson pitched a solid seven innings, giving up just two earned runs.

"Sanson asked for the start against Mayville in Wednesday's practice," mentioned Long, "and I felt like he was bound and determined to do all he could do out on the hill."

Justin Holsworth led an 11-hit attack by going 3-for-4, including two doubles, and scoring two runs. Aaron Bullock and Doug Martus each added two singles and two RBI, Rayba had two hits, and Kevin Kalbfleisch scored three runs.

In the second contest, Rayba belted a solo home run in the fifth inning to break a 2-2 deadlock. Brown City had tied the game in the fourth on a line drive, two-run single from Cordero Morse.

Rayba went the distance on the mound, limiting the Wildcats to just three hits and fanning five.

Long said that Rayba turned in a stellar performance, particularly after straining his back in a collision at the plate early in the game. Long added that the BC defense, also helped. "The defense played behind (Rayba) and made key plays when we needed it."

Rayba was the only player with two hits in the contest.





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