Michigan Town Ball

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Midway in the game, the Jack Rabbits woke up and completely dominated their rival to the south.

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Grand Haven posts up a win on Friday and Saturday to put an end to their double-digit losing streak.
The Player of the Week is Ypsilanti's Mike Buck, who tore into Zing's three days in a row. His offense played into the sweep for the Jack Rabbits.

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I viewed the Barn Owls vs The Joes and it was an exciting game that saw the Joes come back to win in 10 innings.

The best box score is listed below. The pitchers' portion of the box score tells the story.

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Just two games into the set and Josh Ortega already has 7 hits. He leads all hitters in Town Ball in the number of hits by a healthy margin.

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TC Bears dropped two of three as did the A2 Barn Owls. Ypsi Jack Rabbits won 2/3 and the Z's swept. Tight in the LP and White Pines are distancing themselves from the UP pack.

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Jon Ortega of the Saugatuck Joes is the player of the week. He's hitting .358 on the season.

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The L.P. standings were flipped as the previously league-leading Ann Arbor Barn Owls ran into the red-hot Paradise White Pines. A battle of front runners that may have demonstrated the disparity of talent between the two ball clubs.

12-1 for the month, it appeared the 9-game losing streak was coming to an end until the White Pines posted up a 3-spot in the bottom of the 9th to win 4-3, completing the sweep. Brandon Boffa had 2 outs, but while trying to protect Rieber's stellar 8-inning outing, he succumbed to the talent-laden Paradise offense.

Bill Vrkoslav, of the Copper Harbor Miners, went 5 for 10 with a pair of round-trippers to win the POW award. It's the first such award for the 33-year-old from Jennison, Michigan.

Week #13 is the correct week.

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In league news, veteran Rich Bloom announced that this would be his final year in Town Ball.

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Awards are plentiful when it comes to Andy Jenkins ' field performances. Twice batter of the month, 5-time player of the week, along with many others. Jenkins is only 22, so Town Ball fans anticipate enjoying many more seasons of his on-field talents.

He's won Batter ot the Month two months in a row.

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The TC Bears know when to step on the gas as their 4-game winning streak, combined with the other top LP teams' losing streaks, has put them in the driver's seat.

Paradise shows no signs of letting up.

19-year-old Jeff Grimm is the Rookie of the Month for May, going 3-1.

The batter of the month was 22 y/o Andy Jenkins, who clobbered 5 homers and hit .327.

The pitcher of the month was veteran Kevin Rieber, age 38, who went 4-0 with an ERA of 1.85.

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He's a two-time All-Star with some pretty decent stats except for one.

The Ypsilanti Jack Rabbits won 2/3 but were oh, so close to a 3-game sweep. They passed the ball to Alex Colon with a one-run lead. He entered the 9th with a 1.71 ERA and 6 Saves. The ugly stat is that he also entered the game with 4 B.S. on his 1986 record.

With one out, a HBP, an out, a walk, but then a bases-clearing double by lead-off man Jon Ortega, and B.S. number 5 was officially recorded.

Bartow and Engle were batting 8th and 9th in the lineup, and retiring just one of those batters (neither is hitting above .226) would have sealed the deal.

Ortega is just too good for that situation as he gathered his second double of the game.

The Jack Rabbits did win the final two games of the series and have pulled within one game of Traverse City. Those two teams will finish out the season in TC with a 3 game set.

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As if losing 8 of the last 10 games wasn't bad enough, the Barn Owls have learned that their young star Dylan Bouchard is out for one to two weeks.

It will not be easy for the Barn Owls to make up 3 games on two teams, but it will have to be next man up.

Will 43-year-old Rafael Pacheco be up to the challenge? A lot to ask.

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As expected, the White Pines clinched the Upper Peninsula with 6 games remaining.

In the LP, Traverse City won 2/3, Ypsi 1/3, Ann Arbor 3/3

Ann Arbor will face off against Ypsi this coming week.
Traverse City will take on Fricano's Pizzetta's.

Ricky Uraine is the Player of the Week for the 7th time. He went 4 for 11 with three homers.

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TC lost 2/3 to Fricano's and will face Ypsi in the final 3-game set. Ypsi is just 2 games behind, as is Ann Arbor, who is facing off against Fricano's.

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The Jack Rabbits have won 2 straight, and the Bears are now in a must-win situation. Fricano's, with 2 straight W's, have eliminated the Barn Owls from the race.

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The Jack Rabbits, through careless baserunning, have twice ended the inning being thrown out on the basepaths. But, being the Jack Rabbits, they are going with got them here.

The Bears have left a whopping 10 men left on base through 5. But bullpens have been used extensively, and it is Sunday night, so there may not be a lot of flexibility on who is on the mound at key moments.

Anyone's game. Winner takes all.

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Ypsilanti Jack Rabbits. The Rabbits led by 7 heading to the bottom of the 8th, but with all the effective relievers tired, Ypsi had to go to the last resort. The pen coughed up 4 runs in the 8th, and with bases juiced and 2 outs, Gilliliand sent a ball right to the fence in right that was caught to choke off the rally.

So, Ypsilanti does the unthinkable and travels north to Traverse City and wins all three games.

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The Jack Rabbits have managed to get more hits than the White Pines after two games played. Yet, they are behind 0-2.

The reason? The long ball. The White Pines are clearing the fences to the tune of 8 HR's in two games. They are on fire.

The series heads south to Ypsilanti for games 3, 4, and maybe 5.

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It was a game they had to have to keep the series close, but it wasn't to be for Ypsilanti. Outhitting the White Pines for the third straight game, they lost again. The magic number is 1 for the White Pines, seeking their second consecutive Town Ball Championship.

Champagne on ice in the small tourist-focused hamlet of Paradise.

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With tired bullpens PC was important.

PC Paradise: 160
PC Ypsilanti: 253