Carp Mounts Sixth Inning Comeback to Tie Manotick Lomor Printers

Carp Mounts Sixth Inning Comeback to Tie Manotick Lomor Printers
Victory Now Undefeated in Four Games
from Shawn Williams

Lots of errors and not a lot of hitting had the Carp I4C Victory behind the eight ball early last night but a late sixth inning rally allowed the team to pull out a 5-5 tie with the Manotick Lomor Printers in Greater Ottawa Fastball League (GOFL) action in Manotick on Wednesday night.

Manotick opened things up in the second when Mike Branchaud doubled. It was one of three hits on the night for the veteran first baseman/designated player. John Lindsey then singled to put runners on the corners. Lindsey then moved to second base on a fielder’s choice. After Joe Allan reached first to load the bases, Rich Antunes hit a shallow fly to centrefield that a hard charging Matt McNish could not reach allowing two runs to score. With Allan now on third, the throw to the infield was cut off and in an attempt to get Allan at third, the ball deflected off of the glove of third baseman Eric Colvin allowing Allan to score and make the score 3-0 after one. Carp got one of those runs back in the top of the third. With one out, Pete Pettit hit a long drive to the fence in centrefield for a double. Al Read then reached on an error allowing Petitt to score from second.

In the bottom of the fourth, Manotick added two more when Allan led off with a walk and moved to second on an Antunes single. A fake bunt steal by the Printers had a throw to third that was not handled by Carp shortstop, Kyle Gourgon who was covering on the play and as the ball went into left field, Allan scored and Antunes was safe at second. Trevor Lahey who had the start for Manotick, laid down a sacrifice moving Antunes to third who then scored on an Adam Bickell single and the score was now 5-1. After Don Cox singled, Carp Head Coach and General Manager, Shawn Williams made a pitching change bringing in Neil Cooke to replace Carp starter, Trevor Wood. After walking Calvin Mydenski, Cooke enticed Branchaud, who re-entered the game after Rob Soubliere pinch ran for him in the third inning, to ground into a 4-2 fielder’s choice before striking out Lindsey to end the inning.

The Carp bats finally came alive in the top of the sixth after Lahey had kept them quiet for most of the night. Gourgon led off with a triple to left field that got over the head of Allan. After Read popped out to second, McNish hit a hard infield single to Lindsay Medynski and head’s up base running by Gourgon had him quickly back to third allowing McNish to safely reach first. Brooks Paziuk then hit an RBI single to score Gourgon with McNish moving to third. An RBI single off the bat of Wood who was now batting for Cooke made the score 5-3. Colvin cashed those two in with a 2 RBI single that tied the score at five. Carp made some noise in the top of the seventh when with one out, Gourgon had an infield single and advanced to second on an overthrow into the Carp bench. After Read flew out to right, McNish drew an intentional walk and clean up hitter Paziuk struck out to end the threat.

Manotick also mounted a late charge when with one out, Branchaud singled and was replaced for the second time by pinch runner, Shannon Borho. After Lindsey struck out and with Lindsay Medynski at the plate, Borho took second when an errant throw back to the pitcher’s circle got away and went into centre field. However Cooke was able to end the game on a 6-3 ground out and the game ended in a 5-5 tie.

Offensively for Carp, Gourgon was 2-4 with a run scored, Colvin was 2-3 with two RBIs and Pettit was 1-3 with a run scored. They left five on base.

For Manotick, Branchaud was 3-4 with a run scored while Allan was 0-1 with two walks, two runs scored and a stolen base. Manotick stranded seven runners on the night.

On the mound for Carp, Wood (3-1) started and went 3 1/3 innings giving up five runs, four unearned, on six hits, he walked two and struck out two. He had no decision. Cooke (5-1-2) got the tie in relief. He threw 3 2/3 innings giving up no runs on one hit, he walked one and struck out three. Carp made five errors.

Lahey threw all seven innings for Manotick. He gave up five runs, one unearned on nine hits, gave up an intentional walk and struck out seven, four of them looking. Manotick made two errors.

Carp’s next scheduled game is next Wednesday, August 1st in Stittsville against the 56ers. This is a make-up game that was originally to be played on May 16th and then was re-scheduled to July 26th in Carp. It has subsequently been re-scheduled a second time to the new date. He team still has to make-up a game against Ottawa Team Easton Thunder that was scheduled for July 4th. That make-up date has not yet been determined.