Even though the Thorold Anchors (7-4) had their first two baserunners caught stealing at second base in the first inning on Friday night they set the tone for the evening’s festivities en route to eight successful stolen bases during an 8-4 victory over the St. Catharines Cobras (3-6-1). The Anchors ran wild on the Cobras led by Nolan Procyshyn with three steals and Robbie Denham with two as Thorold stole a season high eight on the evening.

 

The Cobras opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning when Jordan Clinch took off for second base on a Joe Meisner rbi single through the right side in a perfectly executed hit and run that got second basemen Adam Bartlett to vacate the area that Meisner shot the ball through to give St. Catharines a 1-0 lead.

 

Thorold turned to some small ball in the second inning after a leadoff infield single by Kevin Hastie the Anchors got bunt singles from Adam Bartlett and Nolan Procyshyn to load the bases for Dalton Procyshyn. Dalton would send a line drive into the gap in right centrefield that emptied the bases and gave Thorold a 3-1 lead.

 

St. Catharines would chip away at the Anchors’ lead in the bottom half of the inning with a Corey Stewart rbi fielder’s choice before starter Luke Edwards (1-2) got out of a bases loaded jam with a fly out to centerfielder Max Dobrowski to end the second frame 3-2.

 

The Anchors expanded their lead back to two in the top of the third with an Adam Bartlett rbi single that brought the lead to 4-2. After that, Edwards settled in and efficiently got through four innings picking up the win on just 53 pitches scattering six hits while giving up two unearned runs and striking out two Cobras.

 

Thorold would mount a four-run rally in the fifth inning which was started with a walk and a stolen base from Robbie Denham. Adam Bartlett would hit a soft ground ball to second and Denham would be aggressively waived around third base by coach Chris Ciolfi to attempt to score when second baseman Joe Meisner was caught in between making the play at first and attempting to get Denham at home. Denham’s speed was too much and Thorold had a 5-2 lead. 

 

After a Nolan Procyshyn walk and two stolen bases, Dalton Procyshyn also drew a walk and starter Tyler Wilson’s night was done. Wilson (1-2) pitched four and two-thirds innings giving up seven runs (six earned) on nine hits while walking three and striking out three Anchors.

 

Lucas Tronzo entered the game for the Cobras and before he could throw a pitch the Anchors pulled off a double steal with Dalton Procyshyn taking off for second and drawing a wide throw while Nolan Procyshyn took off for home and scored with ease to make it 6-2. A couple of bases loaded walks later and Thorold took an 8-2 lead into the bottom of the fifth.

 

The Cobras would finish the scoring on the evening with two unearned runs off of Nicholas Gambell. Gambell would strand a Cobra at first base while striking out Joe Meisner to end his lone frame of work. Justin Vescio-West closed out the game working two no hit innings walking two and striking out one.

 

Defensively on the night the Anchors turned two double plays highlighted in the sixth inning by Max Dobrowski making a catch in centrefield and throwing a rope to catcher Dylan Dempsey to tag Joey Bowman out at home.

 

Offensively, Tony Brown has now hit safely in seven consecutive games dating back to the July 3rd contest against Merritton. In those seven games he is 9-for-21 at the plate good for a .429 average. Adam Bartlett had a three-hit game with two rbi and Dylan Dempsey went 2 for 3 to bring his average up to .447 for the season. Thorold leads the season series against St. Catharines two games to zero and has outscored the Cobras 29-13 so far in the two games.

 

Thorold has now won four straight games for the first time since 2018 and six of their last seven games overall. The Anchors will host the Fort Erie Cannons (3-6) on a special Canada Day matinee at McMillan Park on Tuesday afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00pm.