1918 Divisional Playoffs — Southern League
Tucson stings Prospectors in six
Game Scores
Tucson 6, Bisbee 2 — WP: Erv Lange
Tucson 5, Bisbee 1 — WP: Willie Mitchell
Bisbee 4, Tucson 3 — WP: Ray Fisher
Bisbee 3, Tucson 2 — WP: Smokey Joe Wood
Tucson 6, Bisbee 2 — WP: Willie Mitchell
Tucson 6, Bisbee 4 — WP: Doc Ayers
While one favorite got knocked off in this playoff season (Payson), the Tucson Saguaros avoided the same fate.
Willie Mitchell won two games for the Cactus Kids, including the critical "swing game" (Game Five). He earned PoG honors both times, his third and fourth time in five recent starts. Mitchell walked just two in the two games, getting Bisbee to hit harmless grounder after harmless grounder.
CF
Ty Cobb was kept pretty quiet during the series, but Tucson got plenty of offensive help from guys like C
Tex Erwin (.381, four RBIs), DH
Harry Hooper (.412, three RBIs) and LF
Bobby Veach (5 RBIs).
The clinching Game Six turned in the bottom of the sixth inning. With the score tied 2-2, Ty Cobb struck out looking and 1B
Jack Fournier grounded out to first against pitcher
Ray Fisher. But then the Saguaros exploded for four runs with two outs, eventually chasing Fisher from the game. Hooper tripled to get things started. Erwin hit an RBI single. Veach walked, then 2B
Ralph Young batted Erwin home with a single. An Art Fletcher triple scored the final two runs of the frame for a 6-2 cushion.
Bisbee got two back in the top of the eighth on singles by C
Bill Carrigan (Rough!) and LF
Joe Connolly, and a double from RF
Vin Campbell. But Doc Ayers shut the Prospectors down in the ninth, with an error on the shortstop being the only blemish.
RF
Happy Felsch had a big series for Bisbee, earning nine hits in 21 at-bats, with four runs and five RBIs. But the Prospectors' heaviest hitters — 2B
Rogers Hornsby (.160), CF
Benny Kauff (.208) and
Dick Hoblitzel (.087) — really struggled from the 3-4-5 spots...
Tucson will make its fourth appearance in the Cactus Champions Cup, going for its second league title.