By By SCOTT NOVAK / Dowagiac Daily News
The Dowagiac U16 Travel Baseball team was defeated by the Tri-State Titans 14-13 on Thursday and then defeated North Lincoln 9-8 on Friday.
"Thursday night we had the tying run on third and two outs, but could not get the run home," Dowagiac coach Loren Willming said. "Friday night we were down two runs going into the seventh inning and put a four spot on the board … YES!"
Tri-State…14
Dowagiac…13
Darius Wilson had a pair of singles, a double and three RBIs for Dowagiac against Tri-State.
Mike Bennett had two hits and two RBIs, while Mike Pranschke had a single, a double and two 2 RBIs. Cal Cox and Nate Klees both singled and drove in two runs.
Seth Engler singled, tripled and drove in a run.
Ryne Willming took the loss. Also taking the hill for Dowagiac were Wilson, Ryne Lindsey and Cox.
North Lincoln…8
Dowagiac…9
Aaron Blaske had a pair of singles and four RBIs for Dowagiac, while Cox singled and drove in three runs.
Dowagiac also got a triple and a RBI from Engler and a hit from Ryne Lindsey.
Lindsey picked up the victory in relief of starter Chris Gantt.
Lindsey worked three innings, allowing two earned runs on four hits with four strikeouts. Blaske pitched the final inning, allowing one run on one hit with a strikeout to pick up a save.
"Aaron came in to pitch the seventh and we were able to hang on for the victory," Loren Willming said. "Right now our bats are on fire, however, we have a few tired arms on our staff."