Errors made all the difference on Tuesday night as the Red Arrow Duncan Tigers fell 7-6 to Longwood Brewery in a Nanaimo Senior Men’s Fastball League game at Glenora’s Waldon Park.
The Tigers led 6-3 going into the sixth inning, when starting pitcher Craig Snyder had to leave and was replaced by Trevor Gicas. The bases were loaded, entirely due to errors, setting up a grand slam by Longwood’s Shane McLachlan that put the Nanaimo team ahead for good.
The Duncan team put up 16 hits in the contest, but left 11 men stranded on base.
“Offensively, we had a great game,” manager Joe DiLalla said. “It just didn’t add up to enough runs.”
Chris Moreside went 3-for-5 with an RBI, Snyder was 2-for-2 with two runs, Jamie Gicas went 2-for-4, and Steve McKinnon went 2-for-5 with an RBI and some outstanding defence in his home debut. Chris Kline was 2-for-3 with two runs, and Tanner McQuarrie went 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI.
The game marked Longwood’s first win of the season after several close calls.
Duncan continues to battle the surging Parksville Red Sox for first place in the league. Parksville had the upper hand last Thursday as the Red Sox beat the Tigers 3-2 in 11 innings at Cedar.
Duncan led 2-0 after four innings, but Parksville drew even in the sixth, sending the game to extras, with international rules in play. The Tigers executed a triple play in the eighth when, with the bases loaded, pickup Corey Bay fielded a grounder at third, then threw to catcher Trevor Gicas for the first out at home. Trevor threw to brother Jamie at first, then Jamie sent the ball back to Trevor to put out the runner who had tried to score from second.
Despite those heroics, the Red Sox ended up scoring the winning run in the 11th.
The Tigers will host the Red Sox at Waldon Park next Tuesday at 7 p.m.
