By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - After losing the first game of the World Series playoffs Monday evening, the Devil Rays bounced back to defeat the Cardinals Tuesday evening 11-7 and won the championship game Wednesday evening 15-6 to claim the 2005 Minor League title.
The Devil Rays (The UPS Store) were also crowned Minor League regular season champions this year.
In Wednesday's game, the Cardinals took an early 4-0 lead in the first two innings, but the Rays rallied to score seven runs in the bottom of the second to put them in control of the game.
Another two runs from the Cardinals in the third brought them pack within one run of the Rays.
But the Rays did it again and scored five runs in the third to give them a 12-6 lead.
The Cardinals remained scoreless for the remainder of the game while the Devil Rays brought in three more runs in the fourth.
The game was ended in the bottom of the fifth when time expired and the Devil Rays walked away champions with a 15-6 victory.
Mitchell Dehn was the winning pitcher for the Devil Rays with five strike outs and only one walk in two inings pitched.
Evan Hartman picked up the save for the Rays.
Tyler Jones suffered the loss on the mound for the Cardinals.
The Cardinals were led offensively by David Tharp with a triple and two singles and Cody Jankoviak with a double.
The Devil Rays were led by Hartman, Alex Walters and Joshua Carr who all had doubles and Dehn added two singles.
An awards banquet will be held next Wednesday, July 6 at Fireman's Youth Park at 6 p.m. for all teams and players.
White Sox claim Rookie
World Series
The White Sox took a 7-5 win over the Blue Jays to capture the Rookie Division World Series title Wednesday evening.
The Sox took an early 4-3 lead after the first three innings of play. In the fourth, the Jays were able to pull ahead of the Sox, taking a 5-4 lead, but the Sox quickly took control of the game again scoring three runs in the bottom of the fourth to give them a 7-5 lead and eventually the win.
The Jays were led offensively by Blake Lerner and Toby Fox who both had two singles each and Kody Ernsberger had a home run and a double.
Top hitters for the Sox were Derek Brown with a triple and a single and Dennis Jordan with two singles.
The White Sox (Midwest Energy Corporation) also claimed the regular season championship.