The Bobcats' season came to a close Thursday with the team's eighth straight loss, falling to Tradewater 9-1 to give the Pirates the best-of-three series that punches their ticket for the postseason championship.
Pirate closer Adam Culiver ended Marion's best campaign since joining the league in 2008 by striking out the league's top power hitter, Ryan Chesler. The Bobcats ended the regular season with a 22-26 record and exited the playoffs without a win for the second time in as many years.
The Pirates, winners of the KIT League's regular season title for the third consecutive year, were too much for Marion in the postseason despite playing only .500 ball in their last 10 league games. In the first game of the postseason on Wednesday at Guess Field, Tradewater overcame a 2-0 deficit and broke up a no-hit bid by Austin Park in the seventh to move on to a 4-2 win. In tonight's game, the pitching staff shut down the league's most potent offense again, allowing a lone run in the fourth inning while the Pirate bats exploded for six runs in the fifth inning en route to an eight-run margin of victory.
For Marion, starter Justin O'Brien took the loss. Ryan Heinz was the winner for Tradewater.
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Owensboro 3, Fulton 2, 10 innings
The league's third-place team moved on to the championship series with an extra-inning win at Fulton, who finished the regular season in second place just one game behind Tradewater. The Oilers took the first two games of the best-of-three series for the right to face last year's postseason champ, Tradewater.
The championship series begins Friday at Chautauqua Park in Owensboro. Game 2 of the series will travel on Saturday to Riverside Park in Dawson Springs, also where the decisive game will be played Sunday, if necessary. The series will pit the winners of the last two postseason tournaments against one another. The Oilers won the title in 2008, beating the Pirates two games to none in the series.
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