The amateur baseball teams across Pierce County resumed play this past weekend after taking a mid-season break for the 4th of July weekend.

The Prescott Pirates still maintain their spot with the third best record in the St. Croix Valley Amateur Baseball League after resuming play this weekend. The Pirates won their game Friday night against the Osceola Braves 6-5 but lost their game Saturday night 5-7 against the league-leading River Falls Fighting Fish.

Pirates Manager Michael Lytle spoke on the Pirates season so far, commenting on their consistency.

“We started off this season a little slower than past years, losing our first couple of games but have managed to level out to the level we’re used to playing at and stringing a few wins together since then,” Lytle said. “As far as team chemistry, it’s solid. We’ve had the same core group of guys for five or more years and a lot of them have grown up together as well.”

Even with the Pirates coming around and winning more games than at the season's start, the Pirates have had to deal with injuries frequently, especially with their pitching staff, according to Lytle.

“We’ve been able to make some adjustments and rely on other guys on the team to step up where we need them to,” said Lytle.

The Pirates have only four regular season games remaining, all of which are against St. Croix Valley League opponents.

“We expect to finish top two in our league and to make a deep run in the playoffs. I think we’re in a good spot to meet those expectations if we continue to play our brand of baseball,” said Lylte on team goals and expectations for the remainder of the season.

The Elmwood Expos are still near the bottom of the St. Croix Valley League with a 3-5 league record and a 5-8 record overall. The Expos lost their Saturday afternoon game 7-0 against the Plum City Blues and against the Bay City Bombers Sunday, were walked off in the bottom of the ninth, losing the game 3-2.

Tom Sauve, manager of the Expos, spoke about the team’s regression compared to their success last year.

“We've got guys with smaller issues this year so some of our pitchers haven't been able to throw,” Sauve said. “We have a young kid, Mason Dado. He just graduated from St. Croix Central. He's got a little bit of a shoulder issue so he's not going to pitch as much for us where last year he locked a lot of quality innings for us. Father Time catches up with some of us too, or a little bit older, a little bit more thorough than past years. And then one of our other pitchers, Tim Gary, has a sprained ankle. So we're just trying to get healthy more than anything.”

While health is a common issue for many of the teams toward the bottom of the standings in the St. Croix Valley League, the Expos feel fairly confident they will turn things around in their final four regular season games.

“We had a really good season last year with some young guys and we won some close games that came down either way. This year seems like some of those games have gone the other direction for us. And there are some games where we feel like we should have been able to win that we left at a loss call. So right now, we have some games that we know that we need to pick up the pace to make the playoffs,” said Sauve.

The Expos’ next game is against the Spring Valley Hawks in at 7 p.m. July 17 in Spring Valley. The Pirates’ next game is in Ellsworth against the Hubbers at 7:30 p.m. on the same Saturday.