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A good effort by Team Canada came up one out short. The Stars won it with a grand slam home run by SS Robby Scott with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. This was three different ball games. The Stars dominated the first four innings. Team Canada got only three hits on starter Rudy Bautista, and they left the bases loaded in the second. The Stars got four runs on starter Eric Brown, and three more on reliever Geoff Burke. However, Team Canada hit Bautista big time in the top of the fifth.CF Jon Syrnyk started it with a three-RBI double, then C Ben Torrie and RF Mike Elias singled in runs, and LF Nic Lendvoy hit a sacrifice fly. Matt Bannister came in to replace Burke in the bottom of the fifth, and proceeded to strike out the side. He retired the next five batters he faced before giving up a hit in the seventh inning, and didn't allow another hit until the ninth. He ended up striking out seven, walked one, and hit a batter. Meanwhile, Team Canada tied the game in the seventh inning when DH Mitch Grossell grounded out with the bases loaded. They took the lead when 3B Jordan Padrinao, who drew a walk with a brilliant turn at bat, scored when Torrie grounded out. They added four more runs in the seventh inning, giving them what should have been a safe 12-7 lead, when Padrinao was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, Lendvoy came in when Syrnyk reached on an error, and Padrinao and 2B Alex White came home when Torrie reached on an error. There was no more scoring until the bottom of the ninth. Bannister was greeted with base hits by C Mike Butterfield and LF Ryan Hulbert. Butterfield scored on an error by Padrinao, making the score 12-8. Bannister got an out, then hit a batter, loading the bases. Josh Brink came in to pitch, and struck out the first batter he faced, and the Stars were down to their last out. Another run came in on an error by SS Sammie Starr, then Scott hit it over the right field fence. Pete Malloy, who allowed two hits over the final three innings, got the win; Brink got the loss. Starr finished the game 4-6, and White went 3-5. Hulbert was 2-4 with three RBI for the Stars. Box score and play-by-play  Comments (0) |  Add as favourites (140) | Views: 358
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