Kars beats Micksburg 1-0 in pitchers' duel

from Chad Milne

In their final game of the regular season, Kars Aces travelled to Micksburg Wednesday night to take on the GOFL-leading Twins. In a well-pitched, well-played game for both teams, Cory Alkerton outduelled Joran Graham in leading the Aces to a 1-0 win.

The Twins looked to jump out to an early lead in the bottom of the 1st, loading the bases on a hit and a couple of walks, but with two out Alkerton was able to settle in at the right time to strike out the Micksburg batter. 

This game was scoreless through 4 innings, with both pitchers racking up the strikeouts.

In the top of the 5th, Kars managed to push across what turned out to be the only run of the game. Matt Alkerton led off the inning with a single. Danny Powers then tried to sacrifice Alkerton over to second, but couldn't get the bunt down in his first two attempts. After a passed ball allowed Alkerton to advance to second, Powers battled Graham and was able to get just enough of a 3-2 pitch, lifting it over the infield into short right field to bring home Alkerton and put the Aces in front 1-0. Kars couldn't get any more runs in the 5th as Graham set down the Aces in order to close out the inning.

The Twins threatened to tie the game in the later innings, getting runners on in both the 5th and 6th innings, but some fine defensive plays by the Aces and shut down pitching from Alkerton kept the Twins off the board, preserving the big 1-0 road win for Kars and sending close to 70 Micksburg fans home disappointed.

Alkerton was selected as player of the game for his outstanding pitching performance.