Black Sox waiting on sun stroke victim Makea

March 3, 2013

ORIGINAL STORY by Tony Smith

The Black Sox are hoping outfielder Thomas Makea will recover time for tomorrow's crunch game against arch rivals Canada after “hitting the wall’’ with sun stroke. 

    Makea, who batted in two runs to spark a Kiwi comeback in the 7-2 win over Japan yesterday, left the field in the fifth inning. 

    It looked at first like a platooning decision by coach Eddie Kohlhase - replacing the veteran outfielder, who had done his job at the plate, with the defensively sound Daniel Milne. 

    But Kohlhase said Makea - who was too ill to be interviewed - was feeling poorly with sun stroke. “He just hit the wall…he just basically collapsed. We’ll have to assess him as well and make sure he’s okay’’. 

Kohlhase hailed Makea’s two-run pressure batting RBI feat. “He’s a veteran... he’s very Mark Sorenson-like, Thomas Makea, just brilliant.’’ 

Kohlhase was confident left-handed pitcher Heinie Shannon would quickly get over the cramp that forced him out of the game in the third inning after facing just three batters as a substitute for starter Nik Hayes.

    "I thnk the rotation went out the window, we used [just about] everybody," quipped Kohlhase, who said the Black Sox would continue to juggling their pitching resources. 

    The Black Sox need to beat either Canada tonight or Argentina tomorrow night to virtually guarantee themselves a coveted top-two seeding from Pool B for the top-eight playoffs which start on Friday.