Ironmen drop Game 1 to Fredericton
Published Friday September 5th, 2008
SENIOR BASEBALL — Stevie wobbled but he didn’t fall down last night in the opening game of the new Brunswick Senior Baseball League best-of-seven final series.
Fredericton DQ Peterbilt Royals pitcher Steve McCarty showed some of the mental toughness that comes from serving in the Canadian Armed Forces in Afghanistan, among other places, going six innings to pick up the win in a 2-1 decision over the Chatham O’Donaghue’s Ironmen.
The win puts the Royals up 1-0 in the best-of-seven series; Game 2 goes this evening at 7:30 p.m. at Ironmen Field as Royals lefthander Josh Collins opposes Matt Jenkins of the Ironmen on the mound.
Third game of the series will be back at Royals Field Saturday night at 7 p.m. with the fourth game is scheduled for Sunday at Miramichi, also a 7 p.m. start.
Last night, in front of an estimated 400 fans, McCarty dodged in and out of trouble all night long. But he was still able to come out with the win, with some relief help from Brooks Saunders in the seventh.
McCarty went six innings and pitched to one batter in the seventh before yielding to Saunders. McCarty threw 115 pitches, allowing six hits, six walks and striking out just four, but the key number was just one run allowed.
“I couldn’t get the curve over especially early,” McCarty said. “But I threw a lot of fastballs and I was better rested tonight so I could get a little zip on them and I had a changeup to fall back on.
Maybe because I was so rested is why I was a little wild. We’ll never know.”
Whatever the reason, it made for an interesting outing for all concerned, Mc- Carty most of all. His teammate’s bats spotted him a 2-0 lead after two innings:
Ryan Corey singled with one out in the first and scored on Dave Barr’s RBI double, then Josh Collins plated in the second after a walk and a double by Jeremy Turgeon and an error by Chatham left fielder Al Hilchie.
From there McCarty sailed in and out of danger. He worked only a single 1-2- 3 inning, the fourth and had base runners in every other inning, including the seventh. He threw one pitch, hit leadoff man Andrew Burns, and handed the ball to Saunders.
McCarty’s best high wire act of the night came in the second and third innings when he loaded the bases. There was one out in the second, two out when he did it in the third. But he surrendered just the single run.
Nick Hardy scored to cut the lead in half in the third on a single by Jon Saunders, the inning was ended when Derek Wilson tried to score on the same play but was cut down at the place by a throw from Barr in left field.
That was the worst of it, but the fifth also had some drama, and it also had perhaps one of the most unusual double plays of all time.
With one out, Hardy singled and Wilson walked. Hilchie followed up with a bloop hit that dropped behind the mound, and the infield fly rule had not been invoked by umpire Scott Geikie or any of his crew.
What followed was a keystone cops routine as Royals fielders tossed the ball back and forth trying to tag out Hardy, not realizing that when one of them had inadvertently touched third he was out on a force. When it dawned on the Fredericton players they found Wilson wandering between first and second base and tagged him out as well, a double play.
“I didn’t know what was happening,” admitted Fredericton second baseman Jon Pineo.
“I just kept running in circles waiting to get the ball, we didn’t let it drop on purpose, you could see none of us knew what was going on.”
The play incensed the Ironmen to the point that Coach Greg Morris got tossed for overzealous debating of the infield fly rule and its interpretation.
“It was that kind of night,” said Chatham catcher Jon Saunders who led his team with a 3-for-3 night with the bat.
“We didn’t let it distract us; we kept playing hard. If anything we used it as motivation.”
McCarty allowed the first two men he faced in the sixth inning aboard before retiring the next batters 1-2-3 for his last jam of the night.
Wilson returned to his old haunt at Royals Field with a strong effort going six innings, allowing two runs, one earned, on seven hits, three walks and striking out five.
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