Expos magic number down to four
It was a week of upsets in Week 9 of the Niagara District Baseball Association senior men’s division.
The Niagara Falls Expos, 12-4; claim top spot again this week, despite losing their only game 7-4 to the Merritton Alliance, 6-7; on Sunday.
The defending playoff champion Expos have eight games remaining in the regular season and their magic number for clinching home field throughout post-season play is down to four.
The Welland Chiefs, 10-4; began a home-and-home series against the Fort Erie Cannons, 9-5; with a 6-4 win at home Sunday, but dropped the rematch 5-4 Wednesday night at Oakes Park in Fort Erie.
There’s one game remaining in the season series between the Chiefs and Cannons, and the outcome of the rubber match Wednesday, July 26, in Fort Erie could have an impact on the final standings.
The Rose City Thorns, 8-6; scored a 2-1 victory over the Niagara Falls Falcons Juniors, 5-8; in their only game of the past week. The win at home completes a sweep of the season series versus the Falcons Juniors, while the loss extends the Falcons Juniors’ winless streak to four games.
Rose City’ s three victories in their last four games puts the Thorns one game back of third-place Fort Erie in the standings. Merritton swept Week 9 and are the team of the week in terms of production. The Alliance scored 16 runs over the course of the week, between their streak-busting win over the Expos on Sunday and their 9-0 dismantling of the Thorold Fantoms, 0-10; on Tuesday.
Merritton currently is second in fewest runs allowed, with 65; but the Alliance could use some more of the offence they displayed over the past week. The 16 runs they put up account for nearly a quarter of the runs they’ve put up all season, 61.
In addition to their loss to Rose City, the Falcons Juniors dropped a 5-3 decision to the St. Catharines Cobras, 4-10. The Falcons have been outscored 25-9 during their fourgame slide and only have one win at home so far this season.
St. Catharines snapped a fivegame losing streak with its victory over the Falcons completing a sweep of the week by edging visiting Thorold 5-4 Wednesday night at George Taylor Field, formerly Community Park in Merritton. Meanwhile, the win watch continues to the Fantoms, the league’s only winless team.
Game of the Week
Visiting Merritton blanked the Fantoms 9-0 in an offensive explosion Tuesday night at McMillan Park in Thorold.
Matt Fusco, with two; Jason Valliere, Ben Collins, Mike Nardelli and Matt Brady scored runs to put the Alliance up 6-0 heading into the bottom of the second inning.
The Alliance collected 10 hits in all as they scored the most runs since defeating the Niagara Falls Falcons Juniors 10-4 on May 28.
“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” Merritton manager Larry Collins said. “We’re looking forward to moving forward and getting this season where it’s supposed to be for us.”
Merritton starter Chris Heckley limited the Fantoms to four hits and struck out two over four innings of work to earn his second win of the season.
“The outside fastball was getting the call tonight,” Heckley said. “Pitching is just like real estate, it’s all about location, location, location. It was good tonight.”
“Good solid effort, good pitching by Chris Heckley,” Collins said. “Good and solid all around.”
Tagged with the loss was Fantoms starter Dylan Doig, the first of four pitchers to see action on the mound for Thorold. Doig allowed four runs, three of them earned, on five hits and one walk in his lone inning of work.
Despite playing with a tight hamstring, Mike Dupuis paced the Fantoms with a single and a double in three plate appearances.
“I’m just doing what I can for the team, I can’t really run a whole lot so I’m just trying to put the ball in play for the most part,” Dupuis said. “I was happy I even made it to second, my legs aren’t doing the greatest right now.”
The Fantoms will continue the fight for their first win of the season when they head to Oakes Park in Niagara Falls to take on the Falcons on Sunday.
Thorold is going to play a lot of baseball down the stretch as the Fantoms must now play 14 games in the final five weeks due to rain delays.
The Alliance will also be in action on Sunday. They’ host the Cannons in a Sunday night matchup at George Taylor Field.