Welland wins seventh game in a row
St. Catharines defeats Thorold to end fivegame losing skid; N.F. Expos two games back
With two weeks remaining in the regular season, it’s becoming make-or-break time for teams seeking home-field advantage for the opening round of the playoffs in the Niagara District Baseball Association’s senior men’s division.
Holding onto the top spot in the eight-team league, for the third week in a row, are the Welland Chiefs. They tripled the Niagara Falls Falcons Juniors 9-3 on the road Sunday afternoon and blanked the Rose City Thorns 3-0 at home Wednesday night to improve to 17-4 extending their season-long winning streak to seven games.
Welland leads the defending playoff champion Niagara Falls Expos, 14-5; by two games, and the Chiefs have not lost a game since dropping a 5-4 decision to the Fort Erie Cannons on July 12.
The Expos snapped a two-game losing streak by defeating the Niagara Falls Falcons Juniors, their co-tenants at Oakes Park, 11-3 Friday and the Merritton Alliance 10-9 two nights later.
Third-place Fort Erie, 13-6; went 3-0 during the past week: Rose City, 14-9, Friday; St. Catharines Cobras, 5-3, Sunday; Falcons, 5-2, Wednesday.
Rose City, 11-8; rebounded from the loss to Fort Erie by sweeping the Thorold Fantoms in a two-city doubleheader Sunday. After scoring a 12-3 victory on the road in the afternoon, the Thorns edged Thorold 5-4 in the nightcap at Welland Stadium.
Rose City’s loss to the Chiefs eliminated the Thorns from contention for the regular season championship.
Also out of the running for the pennant and a first-round bye are Merritton, in fifth place, 7-12; the Falcons, sixth, 7-12; St. Catharines, seventh, 5-15; and Thorold, eighth, 2-14.
Thorold doubled Merritton 6-3 on the road for its second win of the season – and second in a row – to even the season series at one win apiece.
Head-to-head play between the Alliance and Fantoms wraps up Tuesday, Aug. 15, at George Taylor Field, formerly Community Park, in St. Catharines.
Merritton opened the series on the road with a 9-0 victory on July 11.
Chiefs wins season series
An all-Welland battle for baseball bragging rights between the Chiefs and the Thorns is the Game of the Week.
Andrew Neustaeder and Eric Conlon combined to pitch a twohitter as the Chiefs blanked the Thorns 3-0 for their seventh win a row.
Welland, which outhit Rose City seven to two and committed the game’s only error, was designated as the home team.
The Chiefs scored the game-winning run in the third when Scott Cole as hit in the leg by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Cole took a more conventional route in getting Welland’s other runs across the plate two innings later hitting a two-run double.
“It’s always nice get a win like this,” the first baseman said. “The Thorns are a tough team, it’s always fun to play them.”
The Chiefs didn’t squander the 1-2 pitching punch of Neustaeder and Conlon as they took the season series versus the Thorns two games to one.
“In a close game, a single hit by the other team can turn it around or the other team could be winning in a split second,” Cole said. “But having the pitching and the scoring that we do right now really made a huge difference in this game.”
Neustaeder allowed one hit and five walks while striking out two over four innings to earn his fourth win of the season. Conlon limited Rose City to one hit, one walk and strike out four in three innings of relief.
“I think No. 1, the pitching was tremendous,” Chiefs manager Larry Stephens said. “Neustaeder has great stuff, and tonight he had everything going.”
There was no dropoff after the rookie Neustaeder was replaced by the veteran Conlon.
“Conlon? What else can you say, he’s been a workhorse,” Stephens said. “He’s got way more innings than anyone else, and you just know when you give him the ball he’s going to get the job done.”
Travis Doyle went the distance on the mound for the Thorns giving up three earned runs, on seven hits and six walks over six innings. He had one bitter.
Doyle, who pitched in Saturday’s all-star game, which was also played at Welland Stadium, deserved a better fate, his catcher, Drake Nadeau, said.
“Doyle pitched great, so we should have been able to get some runs on the board for him,” Nadeau said. “We left a couple of guys on base and we swung at a lot of bad pitches, so that led to a bunch of quick outs for them.”
Ryan Dear, 2-for-3; Jake Banner, Frank Barber, Cole, all 1-for-2; and Brian Lepp, 1-for-1; collected hits for the Chiefs.
Drew Chapelle and Nadeau each collected a hit for the Thorns.