Fantoms top Cobras for first win of ’17
Come-from-behind, walk-off win over Falcons Juniors lifts Chiefs into first place
Weekly coverage of the Niagara District Baseball Association senior men’s division has reached double digits today.
In terms of drama on the diamond Week 10 did not disappointment. Somebody new is atop the standings in the eightteam loop, and the league’s only winless team has finally snapped a season-long losing streak.
Kevin Murphy two-run single in the bottom of the seventh, and final, inning gave the Welland Chiefs a 7-6 win over the Niagara Falls Falcons Juniors.
Wednesday night’s come-frombehind victory at Welland Stadium improved the Chiefs’ record to 12-4 and moved them half a game ahead of the defending playoff champion Niagara Falls Expos, 12-5.
It was Welland’s second onerun victory in as many games after edging the St. Catharines Cobras 6-5 under the lights Saturday at George Taylor Field in Merritton.
The Expos, designated as the visiting team in the battle for Niagara Falls bragging rights, dropped a 2-1 decision to the Falcons in their lone game of the week.
Their second straight setback dropped the Expos out of first place for the first time since early June.
It’s been a tough go the past few weeks for the Expos. They’ve played just five games since July 1 and have lost two in a row after a nine-game winning streak.
The Fort Erie Cannons defeated the visiting Merritton Alliance 6-1 Wednesday night. The Cannons’ second in a row improved their record to 10-5, moving them one game back of the Expos and 1 ½ games behind the league leaders.
Fort Erie’s average of 6.4 runs per game tops the league. Welland, 6.3 runs per game; is second and the Expos, 6.1; are third.
Inclement weather kept the Rose City Thorns off the field during the past week, with both of their games – on the road Friday against the Expos, at home on Sunday versus St. Catharines – rained out.
Rose City enters the weekend fourth in the league with an 8-6 record.
The fifth-place Falcons, 7-9; swept a doubleheader at home Sunday – Expos, 2-1; Thorold Fantoms, 4-0 – before being clipped by the Chiefs in their last start.
Wednesday night’s road loss to the Cannons dropped the Merritton Alliance to 6-8 in league play and ended a two-game winning streak.
The Alliance’s first chance to return to the win column won’t happen until Tuesday when they host Welland in a doubleheader at George Taylor Field.
The Cobras dropped their seventh-place record to 4-12 - and their record in head-to-head play with the Thorold Fantoms to 1-1 when they finished Tuesday night on the wrong end of a 10-3 blowout to what had been the league’s only winless them.
The Fantoms, who lost 5-4 in their meeting with St. Catharines this season, improved to 1-11.
Thorold has played the fewest games in the league so far this season, two less than Merritton.
Game of the Week
The Welland Chiefs came back to defeat the visiting Niagara Falls Falcons Juniors 7-6, thanks to a walk-off single from Kevin Murphy that drove in the tying and winning runs.
“The last time I walked off, I think was against these guys,” the left-fielder said. “It’s always a really good feeling.”
“We’re just trying to keep going and earn that first-round bye.”
The Chiefs took a 2-0 lead into the top of the second inning on a sacrifice fly Brian Lepp and an RBI double by Ryan Dear.
The Falcons exploded for six runs in their next at bat. Three consecutive walks loaded the bases setting the stage for runs scored by Spencer Edwards, Darin Geska, Austin Wheeler, Quinton Spagnol, Nick Schwabb and Vito Scaringi.
Schwabb and Tyler Goss each singled to drive in a run and Eric Marriott put an exclamation point on the offensive outburst with a two-run double.
Chiefs starting pitcher John Mazzei went just an inning and two-thirds and allowed six runs on six walks and three hits before giving the ball Eric Conlon.
Scott Coleman picked up the win in relief.
“Obviously we got off to a shaky start,” Chiefs manager Larry Stephens said. “(Mazzei) hasn’t pitched much at all this year. He cruised through the first inning, second inning he had trouble throwing strikes.”
“That kind of put us in a bit of a hole. But, as we’ve been doing all year, we bounce back.”
The Chiefs cut the deficit to 6-5 in the home half of the third. Runs scored by Murphy, Matt Mannella and Frank Barber were all cashed in on walks by Jerry Searight, Lepp and Dear.
Falcons starting pitcher David Schulz was taken out of the game in favor of Brian Tiner who stopped the bleeding by recording an out against his first nine batters.
Tiner would eventually be tagged with the loss in a game that saw the Falcons settle in defensively, but fail to get the hits necessary to put the Chiefs away.
Niagara Falls was cursed all night by the ground ball and allowed Welland to convert on three double play balls on the night.
The Falcons had to shuffle their lineup after Scaringi, their starting catcher, was ejected by the home-plate umpire for protesting a call at first base. He was replaced behind the plate by Spagnol, the team’s second baseman.
“We had to put guys in who weren’t ready, and we had to put our pitcher back in after he was coming out of the game,” Falcons manager John Hiltz said. “We scored a lot on walks, they scored a lot on walks.”
“It was kind of an ugly game. Neither team blew the game, both teams had a lot of walks.”
Obviously we got off to a shaky start. (Mazzei) hasn’t pitched much at all this year. He cruised through the first inning, second inning he had trouble throwing strikes.” Chiefs manager Larry Stephens