Sox complete sweep of Pearl
When a team is riding a winning streak, the ball has to bounce their way. And for the Marysville Gold Sox, that certainly has been the case lately.
Despite mustering just five hits in Sunday's series finale against Neptune Beach, the Gold Sox took advantage of four Pearl errors and played sparkling defense to pick up a 6-5 victory at Appeal-Democrat Park.
It was the 12th straight victory for the Gold Sox, who entered the night with a two-game lead over the Seattle Studs in the Horizon Air Summer Series McCullough Division standings.
The win also leaves the team one short of the club record for consecutive victories set in 2006.
And while it wasn't necessarily a pretty one, the Gold Sox are more than happy to take it.
"It's a Sunday, so you've got to find out what's left in your gas tank," Marysville manager Jack Johnson said. "Our guys are a little tired, but they found a way to get it done."
The Gold Sox (31-8-1, 26-8-1) spotted the Pearl three runs early before a pair of walks and two errors allowed them to scrape together five runs in the second.
Two of the runs came courtesy of fielding errors. Mark Shannon lined an RBI single and Tyler Kuresa belted a two-run double off the wall in right to give Marysville the lead. The Sox went on to add another unearned run in the third to go up 6-3.
It was a carbon copy of Thursday's game when Marysville rallied back from a 3-0 deficit to win 11-5. And despite being outhit for the second straight game, the Gold Sox are playing their best ball at the right time.
"Our offense has been really good," Johnson said. "We've swung the bats well and when you mix that with solid pitching it's a nice combination."
Brandon Creel got the start for the Gold Sox and allowed three runs on five hits over five innings of work. He struck out two and walked one while retiring the last seven batters he faced to up his mark to 3-0 on the year.
However, he did have plenty of help behind him.
Kuresa made two great scoops at first base and shortstop Mitch Wilhite made some flashy plays with the glove as well to help the cause for the Gold Sox defensively. Also helping out was left fielder Daniel Russell, who made a spectacular diving catch in the seventh.
Yuba City High alum Michael Lowden threw a scoreless sixth and River Valley grad Kenton Bevacqua followed him up by tossing a scoreless seventh and eighth.
Casey Coy allowed two runs and struck out two in the ninth to record the save.
The Gold Sox will now take three days off before starting a four-game set against the Nor Cal Longhorns on Thursday. And with just eight games left in the summer, Johnson would like nothing better than to see his team finish strong.
"These guys have worked hard this last month and have turned up the intensity, but they have to keep it going," Johnson said. "When you build momentum and you have a streak, you don't want it to end."
