The Black Sox Baseball Club started strong at the 15U Mickey Mantle World Series in Owasso, Okla., but fell shy of placing.

The group of players from eight area high schools — including Eastside Catholic, Eastlake, Issaquah and Skyline — won the tournament opener on Aug. 4 in dominating fashion, 10-0, over Gaithersburg, Md. The Black Sox opened the offensive floodgates in the second inning with three consecutive doubles from David McIlvaine, Tyler Hillyer and Casey Fithian. Hillyer drilled a home run over the centerfield fence in the third inning to give the Black Sox a 7-0 lead. Trenton Nagasawa’s third hit of the game, a double in the fifth inning, drove in two more. Starting pitcher Brandon Mahovlich dominated on the mound, allowing just three hits in a complete-game shutout.

The Black Sox stayed close to the Texas state champion early in the second game, cutting a 2-0 lead in half in the fourth inning via an RBI single from Fithian. Texas exploded for eight runs over the final three innings, however, cruising to a 9-1 win.

The Black Sox built another early deficit in a loser-out game against the Cherry Creek, Colo., Royals and couldn’t recover. Cherry Creek Royals erupted for nine runs in the second inning, before winning 10-5. The Black Sox put a rally together in the sixth inning on a Michael Stewart walk, and back-to-back singles by McIlvaine and Hillyer. With no outs, Steven Sacia drove a two-run double off the left-centerfield wall cutting the lead to 9-4. Three straight strikeouts, however, ended hopes of a comeback.