Saints sweep a pair of games, increase winning streak to five straight

MANISTEE — It was a struggle early, but the Manistee Saints finally solved the visiting Fulton Sultans pitching.

Once that was done, the Saints breezed to a sweep of Sunday’s doubleheader at Kliber Field, 7-3 and 11-1.

That extended the Saints winning streak to five straight games and improved their record to 7-5 after a rough 2-5 start.

“Credit to our guys, because obviously, they came out and did (their) jobs,” Saints manager Roddy MacNeil said. “The first game was a battle. Their guy kept us off balance on the mound, (but) we battled and finally got some hits.

“I felt today we finally kind of did put all of it together,” he said. “The first game I felt that the hitting was maybe a little behind, but I felt like on the day as a whole kind of all facets of the game were going.”

Neither team scored through the first three innings of the opener, but the Saints were first to end the drought with two runs in the fourth.

Owen Graves drove in one with a sacrifice and Tommy Reid singled for another.

Fulton tied the score with two in the top of the fifth, but the Saints answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 5-2 lead and never looked back.

Ben Van Nes pitched a strong five innings to get the win. He scattered five hits and walked just one batter while recording two strikeouts.

The leading hitter was Aaron Bess, who finished 3-for-4 with two runs batted in and a run scored, while Aidan Schmuckal contributed two hits, three RBI and a run scored.

Veteran righthander Kyle Gorski took the hill in the nightcap and gave up just one run on five hits, struck out four and issued one walk for the win.

Stephen Weinert had two hits and scored three runs, while Luke Linder contributed two hits with two RBI and four runs scored. JJ Detmers drove in three runs.

“Both (pitchers) commanded the zone, multiple pitches and were able to get guys out early in counts,” said MacNeil. “Ben (Van Nes, the winner in game one) I think went five innings and was in the like the 60-pitch range.

“Miggy (game two winner Kyle Gorski) went five innings and he was in the 75-ish range. When you’re getting that kind of efficiency, it’s amazing.”

The Saints are back on the road Sunday for a doubleheader at the Michana Braves starting at 1 p.m.