Series 15: Black Caps sweep three from Orators

Black Caps 21-22, Orators 20-24

Game One: Black Caps 4, Orators 3
WP: Currie (2-2)
LP: Jenkins (6-5)
Save: Cooper (4)

Game Two: Black Caps 3, Orators 2
WP: Holland (5-3)
LP: Pruett (1-1)
HR: Manush (3), Harris (3)

Game Three: Black Caps 6, Orators 3
WP: Drake (5-1)
LP: Wingard (1-5)
Save: Cooper (5)

Lincoln Park and Ortonville swapped places in the standings as a result of this series, although both remain under .500.

Ortonville starter Ferguson Jenkins doubled in a pair of runs in the fourth inning of the opener and carried that 2-0 lead into the seventh. The Black Caps scored four times in that inning, aided by a Billy Herman error. Frog Redus, pinch-hitting for Lincoln Park starter Rube Currie, tripled in two runs to cap the uprising. The Orators got a run in the eighth but came no closer.

The Orators carried another 2-0 lead into the seventh in the next game, this time with Dixie Davis on the hill. Oliver Marcelle, pinch-hitting, led off the bottom of the seventh with a double and scored on Charles Blackwell's sac fly; Marcelle remained in the game and in the eighth hit the second of back-to-back doubles to tie the score. Vic Harris led off the bottom of the ninth with a homer off Hub Pruett for the walk-off win.

The script changed only slightly in the finale. Ortonville led 3-0 going into the bottom of the sixth this time but the first five men to face Ernie Windgard got hits, and the last two, Red Parnell and Bill Perkins, had doubles. The Black Caps added two more in the eighth, with Buck O'Neil driving the runs in with a single. Hilton Smith and Andy Cooper combined for three scoreless frames.

Pitcher availablity: For the Orators, Ray Kolp should sit the next game. Pruett faced just one batter in the finale; this will not be held against him. For the Black Caps, Drake sits four games to start, three to relieve; Mathis sits three to start, two to relieve; Currie two to start, one to relieve, Williams one to start. Smith threw two innings and Cooper one in the finale. All other pitchers are fully rested.

Projected rotations: Orators -- Sutton-Jenkins-Shocker-Davis-Sutton. Black Caps -- Cockrell-Streeter (or Holland, Williams)-???