Ringo bracket: Black Barons defeat 1973 Kansas City Royals in five games

The NeL entry made short work of the Royals, drawing 31 walks in the five games while striking out just nne times and scoring 43 runs in all.

Game One: Black Barons 18, Royals 1: The Barons batted around twice. Pop Lloyd scored three times and Ray Dandridge drove in three runs. The Barons collected five RBI triples (Cool Papa Bell, Bullet Rogan, Mule Suttles, Jelly Gardner and Bingo DeMoss). Ray Brown allowed six hits in his complete game.

Game Two: Royals 8, Black Barons 4: Freddie Patek collected four RBIs as the Royals evened the series. Ed Kirkpatrick hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning to put Kansas City ahead for good. Steve Busby allowed two runs in 6.1 innings for the win.

Game Three: Black Barons 6, Royals 5: Both bullpens struggled in the end game. Barons starter Phil Cockrell carried a 4-2 lead into the eighth but allowed a single and double to the first two men he faced. After a sac fly made it 4-3, Dizzy Dismukes got the final two outs of the eighth. Rogan took the mound for the ninth and was stung for two doubles and a triple, giving the Royals a 5-4 lead. But Doug Bird got only one out in  the bottom of the inning, with Art Pennington getting a bases-loaded hit to plate Suttles and Jud Wilson with the tying and winning runs.

Game Four: Black Barons 7, Royals 5: Rube Currie allowed a pair of inherited runners to score in the top of the eighth, which gave Kansas City a 5-4 lead. But the Barons knocked Bruce Dal Canton around for three runs in the bottom of the frame, with Ray Dandridge bringing in Wilson and Spoony Palm with the go-ahead runs, and this time Rogan protected the lead,

Game Five: Black Barons 9, Royals 2: The Barons scored twice in the first inning and added four more in the second to cruise to the series-clinching win. Brown came one out short of a second complete game. Rogan homered in the first and drove in three runs. Bell had a pair of triples. The Barons drew 10 walks and a hit-by-pitch.

Projected rotation: Everybody on the Barons staff will be available for the start of the second round. Expect Brown and Cockrell to start the first two games.