On a night where seven innings weren’t enough the Thorold Anchors (5-4) squeaked out a 10-9 victory against the Niagara Falls Expos (7-2-1) in a three-and-a-half-hour marathon nine inning battle.

 

The Anchors started fast Friday night pushing across three runs to stake starter Kyle D’Angela to an early cushion. In the top of the first inning Thorold got rbi singles from Dylan Dempsey, Dan Smith and Dan Krasulja which were setup with a textbook sacrifice bunt from Drew Timlock.

 

That cushion however wouldn’t last very long as the Expos jumped on D’Angela for five runs of their own highlighted by a 2-run line drive laser beam of a home run from Al Stephens over the left field fence. Niagara Falls sent 10 men to the plate and chased D’Angela from the game after just one inning with the Expos leading 5-3.

 

Niagara Falls would tack on two more runs in the bottom of the second inning with an rbi double from Evan Baglieri and a sacrifice fly from Josh Thorpe to push the lead to 7-3.

 

The Thorold offense would once again come to life in the third inning when Nolan Procyshyn beat out an infield single with two outs that allowed Dan Smith and Max Dobrowski to score on a heads-up play by Dobrowski to score while the attempt at the third out was made at first base. Procyshyn would then come around to score after stealing two bases, forcing an error into left field on his second, to bring the Anchors within one.

 

The Expos pushed their advantage back to two in the bottom of the fourth with yet another home run from Al Stephens. This one came off of Ben Dobrowski and was also deposited over the left fence to make the score 8-6.

 

Thorold would regain the lead in the top of the fifth as they finally chased starter Jason Baldinelli from the game. The Anchors managed to load the bases with nobody out but after back-to-back strikeouts Baldinelli was looking the escape the jam undamaged. Tony Brown picked up an rbi on a hit by pitch and then Drew Timlock hammered the first pitch he saw into right field to score Mark Suntz and Nolan Procyshyn to take a 9-8 lead.

 

Justin Vescio-West would enter the game in the sixth inning and pitch two innings giving up 1 unearned run that tied the game in the bottom of the seventh inning that allowed the Expos to push the game to extra innings. 

 

The Anchors pulled out the victory in the top of the ninth with back-to-back doubles from Mark Suntz and Tony Brown. Suntz would retire the side on the mound in the bottom of the ninth to finish the victory 10-9.

 

Ben Dobrowolski pitched four innings for Thorold giving up three earned runs on six hits walking one while striking out five Expos. Mark Suntz (1-0) got the win for Thorold pitching the last two innings and was untouchable striking out four Expos, walking one but giving up zero runs on zero hits. CJ Bain (1-1) took the loss for Niagara Falls firing four and a third innings giving up one earned run on two hits while walking five and striking out six Anchors.

 

Thorold will look to push their winning streak to three games on Tuesday night at McMillan Park against the Merritton Alliance. The Anchors can also claim the season series with the Alliance on Tuesday with a victory. First pitch is scheduled for 7:30pm. As always, please feel free to bring a non-perishable donation to be entered into a draw for a gift certificate in support of Community Care of St. Catharines and Thorold.