Metros extend winning streak to five
Niagara preparing for COBA playoffs seeking first title since 2013
The Niagara Metros are nearing the end of their regular season armed and ready to strike down the opposition in the Central Ontario Baseball Association (COBA) Major Playoff tournament Aug. 1820.
The Metros, 12-10; are currently on a five-game winning streak in league play. The recent streak for the St. Catharines-based Metros who play out of George Taylor Field has moved them over the .500 mark for the first time since they were 5-4 on June 5.
The Metros defeated the visiting Mississauga SW Twins 6-4 Wednesday and scored all of their runs in the fourth inning one night later in a 7-4 victory over the Oakville Athletics in their final home game of the regular season.
“We feel like we’re really primed,” Cobras manager-player Jon Marcheterre said. “Our pitching is going, we’re fielding the ball well and we’ve had our bats firing. “On the mound, depth has been a real positive for us this year. Going into the off-season last year, my focus was adding arms that could come in and get outs in any situation.”
Marcheterre, now in his 15th season with the team, said the thing he’s learned over the years is to “not run out of gas” and reserve some of it for the eliminations tournament and the COBA playoff title.
“We don’t discount the regular season in terms of big importance leading up to the end of the regular season,” he said. “What we recognize with our regular season is that we have to use every game to prepare.”
With just one game remaining on the schedule, the Metros are determined to show that they are not to be taken lightly. St. Catharines is fresh off a quarter-final knockout in the COBA elimination tournament and a second-place finish in the Hap Walters Invitational Tournament, where they lost in the finals to the Etobicoke Rangers by a single run.
On the season, southpaw Nick Subramaniam, 29.1 innings pitched, 1.47 ERA; and outfielder Danny Beaver, 13 GP, .521 batting average; are making an impact in their first season with the big club.
“The team has been great,” Beaver said. “At the beginning, here and there a couple of guys would show up.
“But once we all came together, it was all nice.”
The speedy outfielder was picked up by the Metros halfway through the regular season and already has 12 stolen bases.
“My speed changes my game because I can put a ball in the gap and run the bases or lay down a bunt and beat it out,” he said. “It is true that speed kills and it definitely helps in this league.”
The Metros back-to-back COBA championships in 2012 and 2013 to bring the number of league titles in their history to seven.