The Gord Closson Forest Products Fastball Club clinched a sweep in the first round of the Nanaimo Senior Men’s Fastball League playoffs with a 5-0 win over the Lantzville Pub in Nanaimo last Thursday.
"It was pretty close to what happened in the last game [a 6-1 win over Lantzville the previous Thursday]," manager Joe DiLalla said.
The GCFP scoring was bookended by a pair of home runs as Dave Devana went yard to lead off the second inning and Dan Whiteford had a solo blast in the fifth inning. In between, the team got two runs in the third inning and one in the fourth.
Trevor Gicas had a team-high two hits in three at-bats, both doubles. Devana finished the game 1-for-3 with two RBIs, and Whiteford was 1-for-4. Also recording hits were Marty Steen (1-for-4 with a run and an RBI), Gord Alberg (1-for-3 with an RBI), Craig Snyder (1-for-4 with a run), and Cam Coss (1-for-3).
Snyder was his usual dominant self on the pitching rubber, giving up just two hits while striking out 12 and shutting out Lantzville over seven innings.
"He pitched an even better game than last time," DiLalla said.
The NSMFL final series began on Tuesday night as GCFP hosted Wheatsheaf at Waldon Park in Glenora for their final home game of 2015. The second game will go in Nanaimo on
Thursday, and a third game, if necessary, will also be played in Nanaimo. The teams split their season series, but DiLalla knows it won’t be easy to defend the league title against the regular-season champs.
"We’ll have our hands full with Wheatsheaf," he acknowledged on Monday.
