Much like the first game of the Nanaimo Senior Men’s Fastball League playoff series between the Red Arrow Duncan Tigers and Wheatsheaf, Wednesday night’s game in Cedar was on an even keel for the first few innings before suddenly going sideways.
The Tigers and Wheatsheaf were tied at one run apiece through four innings on Wednesday, but things changed drastically for the last three innings, and the Duncan team ended up walking away with a 13-8 victory.
“It was 1-1 after four, then all hell broke loose,” Tigers manager Joe DiLalla laughed.
In the teams’ previous game, they were tied 2-2 after five innings before the Tigers eventually pulled away to win 9-2.
On Wednesday night, the Tigers scored four runs in each of the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, and Wheatsheaf responded with five in the bottom of the fifth and two in the bottom of the second.
Walks by the Wheatsheaf pitching staff generated eight of the Tigers’ runs, as the Duncan squad only put up eight hits from four different players: Darryl Rodgers went 3-for-4 with two RBIs, Craig Snyder was 2-for-3 with three RBIs and two runs, Dan Whiteford went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and three runs, and Steve McKinnon was 1-for-4 with an RBI and two runs.
Snyder struck out eight Wheatsheaf batters while allowing 15 hits, but kept the damage to a minimum by walking only three. Following the game, Snyder was named NSMFL MVP, while the Parksville Red Sox’s New Zealand import Chris Agnew was named the league’s top pitcher.
With the win on Wednesday, the Tigers complete the two-game sweep of Wheatsheaf to qualify for the championship series. Parksville and Longwood Brewery are playing for the other spot in the final, and were tied at one game apiece after Wednesday night.
The schedule for the final has not been released yet.