Manotick wins home opener 10-9 over Gators (Weds night)

from Tony Riches

Orleans travelled to Manotick in what was the season opener for both teams Wednesday night. Starting pitchers Chad Hargrove and Trevor Lahey both experienced some early season wildness and it not only made for a slow pace to the game but the hitters were patient and took full advantage.

Manotick scored three in the bottom of the first, with Don Cox driving a two-run homer to cap the inning after a Rich Antunes RBI groundout. Orleans replied with three of their own in the top of the second, Jeff Barber driving in the first two with a triple following a pair of walks. Joel Langford then singled to bring home Barber. Manotick regained the lead in the third with a three-run dinger off the bat of Trevor Power, but the Gators replied in the fourth with a three-run shot of their own, this courtesy of Matt Alkerton. Oddly enough, Manotick`s defence made it`s first out to end the fourth inning. Up until that point Lahey had recorded all eleven outs by himself, on his way to a fourteen strikeout performance.

The Printers took the lead for good in the fourth, scoring two without the benefit of a hit, making the most of four walks and an RBI groundout by Steve Edgerton. They added two more in the sixth to open the lead up to 10-6, with the first run on an RBI single by the aforementioned Edgy and another RBI groundout from Coxy. To their credit though, Orleans staged a comback in the seventh on relief pitcher Tony Riches. Capitalizing on two Manotick errors and a walk the Gators pushed across three runs with only one hit, a two RBI single by Matt Medaglia, before stranding the tying run at third.

Orleans;
Matt Alkerton 2/3, BB, 3 run homer
Matt Medaglia 1/3, 2R, 2 RBI
Jeff Barber 1/3, triple, R, 2 RBI
Joel Langford 1/3, 2BB, R

Chad Hargrove 6IP 7H 6BB 6K

Manotick;
Don Cox 2/4, 2R, 3RBI, 2 run homer
Steve Edgerton 2/4, R, RBI
Trevor Power 1/4, 3 run homer
Joe Allan 1/1, HBP, 2BB, 3R

Trevor Lahey 6IP 6H, 7BB, 14K
Tony Riches 1IP, 1H, 1BB, 1K