Surrey Indians 12 @ Aldergrove Giants 5

Indians sling 4 ROCKets against Giants

A bit of disarray an hour before game time; some tribe members showed up on time but at the wrong battle field. As it turns out, someone sent the wrong directions to the entire team. Fortunately, the real home of the Aldergrove Giants was just minutes away. Scotty got on the hook and quickly echoed the right information to the rest of the tribe. Are all parks in Aldergrove named “Aldergrove Park?”…

This game featured the return of long time Indian R. Edger, it also featured the return of S. Sibley’s big stick. He wasn’t the only one flexing his muscles on this night though as the Indians exploded with an awesome display of power.

C. Edger got things started in the top of the first with a bunt single and J. Karls followed up with a walk. Unable to capitalize on this opportunity, K. Neidert took the mound for the tribe and quickly struck out the first two Giants he faced.

A miscue by the Giants third baseman allowed G. Nolan to reach base leading off the top of the second. A. McBoyle drew a walk after a great at bat and both runners moved up a base when B. Tonogai laid down a gorgeous sacrifice bunt down the first base line. Sibley then lined a single to centre to score Nolan and McBoyle. With runners on first and second and two outs, C. Edger lined a single to right, Sibley got the wave around third but was greeted by a masked man holding the baseball at home plate to end the inning.

The bottom of the second inning would see some shaky defense by the Indians. As a result, the Giants knotted the game at 2. With one out recorded, a single and a wild pitch put a Giant at second base. The next Giants hitter made good contact to centre which seemed to fool our centre fielder and the ball sailed over his head for a run scoring double. Another wild pitch allowed the runner to move up to third base, but as he wondered off towards home plate, C. Edger gunned him down sending shockwaves through the Giants’ bench. Still, the Indians seemed determined to give away opportunities this inning. A mishandled grounder to second allowed the runner to reach first and after a failed pickoff attempt, he moved up to second base. A double to the left-centre gap pushed the second Giants run across the plate.

In the top of the third, Neidert singled to the right side on the infield. With two outs and a 3-0 count, Nolan turned on a waist high fastball and deposited it in the forest behind the right-centre field fence. Nolan leads the team with two home runs this year.

In the top of the fourth, Tonogai reached on a dropped fly ball by the Giants’ second baseman. Sibley then tomahawk-chopped a high fastball over the right-centre field fence. In a bizarre turn of events, the Giants appealed the play claiming that Sibley never touched home plate. The blue crew would have none of it and the 2-run homer stood. Up stepped E. Roblero and badda-bing, another high fastball was driven high and deep to straight away centre. The Indians’ first back-to-back jacks in recent history had the fans and team mates alike going crazy.

The hit parade continued for the Indians in the top of the fifth. Ratelle led off with a single to left centre and moved to second on a wild pitch. After Nolan got a free pass to first, Sibley smashed his second dinger of the night with a rocket to centre. The 3-run shot made the score 10-2 and gave Sibley a share of the team lead in the home run category.

In the bottom of the inning, the Giants showed signs of life. The first two hitters reached base on consecutive singles and wound up scoring both. Neidert finished off his day at the office with his third strike out of the night.

The Indians would end up adding one run in the sixth and one more in the eighth. Roblero relieved Neidert in the sixth and preserved the win for the Indians. The Giants pressured in the bottom of the seventh by loading the bases with one out, but Roblero induced a popup to first and finished the Giants off with a strike out.

The Giants scored their fifth run in the bottom of the eighth when #11 took Roblero deep to centre field. In total, there were five bombs hit in this contest. We all can’t wait to be back at this park soon.

Up next for the Tribe, a showdown against the Maple Ridge J's at Central Park in Burnaby. Double check those directions...

Here are your player of the game nominations in alphabetical order:
Clay Edger 2 for 3 (1B (2), 2BB, 2SB, 1RS)
Greg Nolan 2 for 3, 2RBI (2B, 1HR, 2RS)
Kris Neidert 1 for 5, 1RBI (1B, 1RS, ) * 5IP, 4R 3ER, 5H, 1BB, 3K
Scott Sibley 3 for 4, 7RBI (1B, 2HR, 2RS)