GAYLORD---The baseball season came to a premature end for the Post 44 Blues on Saturday as they lost to the Sault Ste. Marie (Ontario) Black Sox, 7-2, in the Michigan Veterans Baseball state tournament in Gaylord.
The Blues opened the tournament with two wins, but were battered by Gaylord Friday night and then got off to a slow start Saturday that spelled the end of a successful summer of baseball for the organization.
On Saturday, the Black Sox, who have played 52 games this season, got off to a 5-0 lead in the first inning as Aiden Steele struggled to get outs.
Steele was charged with all five runs on four hits, including an RBI double by Lucas DiBerardino and an RBI single by Kolton Tremblay. Tremblay led the Black Sox attack with a pair of singles and a solo home run.
Post 44 had trouble hitting Soo pitcher Hunter Thorkilson. He allowed only two hits in 5 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball.
They tried to come back in the seventh inning against the Soo bullpen, with Gibby Jezewski and Blake Walther leading off with base hits. Braiden Noskey drove in one run with a sacrifice fly, and Wes Robinson singled home the final Post 44 run.
A slow start also hurt the Blues Saturday against Gaylord, as they fell behind, 8-1, and lost, 14-8. Five Blues pitchers threw, and they gave up a combined eleven hits. Brett Koscielniak had a home run and three runs batted in, and Logan Grenier had a pair of double. Gaylord (14-7-1) eventually won the state championship over Soo Canada.
Soo Canada is now 25-26-1 on the season, and the Black Sox still have a couple of weeks of baseball remaining. Post 44 finished its Blues season with a 15-10 record.
