The Red Arrow Duncan Tigers ended up on the wrong side of a pitcher’s duel at Glenora’s Waldon Park on Tuesday night.
Duncan hurler Craig Snyder took a no-hitter into the fifth and ended up allowing just one run on four hits, Chris Agnew was just a tiny bit better, surrendering one hit and shutting out the Tigers as the Parksville Red Sox won 1-0 to clinch first place in the Nanaimo Senior Men’s Fastball League.
The pitchers’ underlying numbers were strikingly similar. Snyder struck out 11 and walked none, throwing 89 pitches for 26 balls and 63 strikes. Agnew tossed 87 pitches for 27 balls and 60 strikes.
“The only difference was in the fifth inning,” Duncan manager Joe DiLalla noted. “They had three hits in a row. A couple were bleeders through the infield. They just hit the hole.”
The Tigers’ lone hit came from Jamie Gicas, batting second on the bottom of the first. Gicas hit a single, then stole second, but that was as far as he would get.
Duncan’s best chance to even the score came in the sixth when Kyle Wanless walked and stole second. He tried to take third as well, but after some miscommunication he started to backtrack and was put out on the path.
The Tigers’ most dangerous hitters came to the plate in the bottom of the seventh, but Gicas struck out, then Snyder flied out to the fence in left field, and Dan Whiteford sent a screaming liner right back to Agnew.
“In a game like that, there’s not much difference between who’s going to win and who’s going to lose,” DiLalla said.
Tuesday marked the Tigers’ last league game, and the result pushed Parksville ahead of Duncan by a single point in the NSMFL standings. The playoffs start next week with Duncan facing Wheatsheaf and Parksville taking on Longwood Brewery.