August 1, 2005

Home state pride

By Nick Buckley

With teams competing from all across America in this week's Sandy Koufax 13's World Series at Bailey Park, it was a team from Motown that was able to keep the tournament trophy in Michigan.

The Detroit Eagles were able to defeat the Burtonsville (Maryland) Dawgs for the Sandy Koufax 13's World Series title, the first time a team from Michigan has won the single-age torunament in its three-year history.

"It's been a tremendous experience for our kids," said Eagles manager Mark Brown, whose team finishes the year with a 62-13 record overall.

"It's a lot better when you win of course but I was trying to make my guys understand that just being a part of the World Series is somethingg special."

Because Detroit entered Sunday's finals undefeated while Burtonsville had one loss, the Dawgs had the difficult task of defeating Detroit twice.

While the Dawgs were able to rally past the Eagles 8-4 in Game 1, Detroit was able to gather themselves and win Game 2 by a score of 5-1.

"I was just happy because it was our first World Series and we've been going through a lot. It was like a big moment for us," said Eagles center fielder Mark Brown.

"At first I thought it was going to be hard and then once we started I saw we could go win it."

Leading the way for Detroit was pitcher Willard Brown. Brown picked up the win in Game 2 with eight strikeouts while allowing just three hits. For his efforts in the World Series, Willard Brown was awarded the tournament MVP.

Detroit's Leon Lucas had a big day with the bat, tallying two hits and three RBIs in Game 1, and three hits in Game 2.

"To beat a quality team like Detroit two times, we knew it was going to be tough," said Burtonsville manager Rich Graves.

"We had a pretty good ballgame that first one, (Brown) pitched a great game with a great ball club and IU have nothing to be ashamed of with this crowd right here. These guys earned it and it was well deserved."

Burtonsville's Kyle Graves had a nice day as he tallied two hits, including a two RBI double in Game 1. Jeff Gattling played well with both his arm and his bat as he picked up the win for the Dawgs in Game 1, while adding an RBI single in Game 2.

"We always feel good about coming to Battle Creek, and not just because we've had a lot of success here," said the Eagles coach Brown.

"It was a rocky road to get here but well worth the time."