Surrey Indians 7 VS Aldergrove Giants 6 (Jul 6)

Indians come up with Giant win against Aldergrove

The Indians were back in business after an extended break from baseball. A forfeited game and Canada day festivities made up the past two weeks. Prior to Sunday’s game, the Aldergrove Giants owned the best record in the Mathers division; the Indians’ game plan was to inch a bit closer to the division leaders and try to secure a good spot heading into the playoffs.

We’re glad to report that we had a surplus of players this time around and the bats are showing signs of improvement. O. Matsubara started the affair against the Giants and lasted 5 innings while allowing 4 runs on 6 hits, 2 walks and 2 Ks.

The Indians got on the board in the bottom of the first inning when J. Karls crossed the plate on K. Neidert’s RBI single. The lead didn’t last long as the Giants responded with 2 in the top of the second. The Indian’s defense was a bit sloppy early in the game and would end up committing 5 errors in the ball game. Two costly errors in the top of the second allowed the Giants to take the lead.

The Giants again applied pressure in the top of the third inning when their lead off man singled and then placed runners on first and third with one out. Matsubara managed to get the second out on a flyball to the outfield but could not get out of the inning unharmed as the next hitter singled in a pair.

After 4 innings of play, the Indians had only collected two basehits and were down 4-1. That is until the bottom of the fifth when K. Grace and A. McBoyle connected with consecutive singles. E. Roblero then sent a comebacker up the middle to score Grace; McBoyle and Roblero moved up a base after the catcher couldn’t handle the relay throw. Up stepped B. Tonogai and he pushed McBoyle across the plate with a bouncer to short. Roblero moved to third on the put out. With C. Edger at the plate, the Giants catcher tried to catch Roblero sleeping at third base, and it almost worked, but his throw sailed high and into left field. Roblero darted towards home with the tying run. In the bottom of the sixth, the tribe would take a one run lead after the “natural” – K. Neidert – a.k.a hitting machine, sent a drive into left centre for a one out double. Then, on T. Jone’s grounder to short, Neidert took off for third and the Giants shortstop erroneously tried to nail him at third. Neidert was called safe and the Giants recorded no outs on the play. S. Sibley then sent a high fly ball into centre field allowing Neidert to score.

Once again, the lead was short lived when in the top of the seventh the Giants tied the score against Neidert and the tribe. Neidert ended up tossing 4 innings of 3 hit ball while allowing 2 runs, walking 2 and striking out 2. Neidert once again stepped up and gave the Indians a chance to win the ball game and eventually ended up with the victory.

This game was a see-saw affair through out its entirety and so in the bottom of the eighth Neidert led off with his fouth hit of the game. With runners on first and second and one out, Grace sent a solid single to the right side allowing Neidert to score the go ahead run. On the next play, McBoyle pushed Sibley across home to give the Indians a 2 run lead.

The 2 run lead came very handy in the top of the ninth when the Giants would not go down quietly. The Giant’s lead off man started the frame with a single but would only reach second base after the second out was recorded. However, down to their last hitter, in dramatic fashion, the ball was crushed to the left centre field gap for a double. With the score now 7-6, Neidert got the final hitter to fly out to centre.

Game bits:
In the bottom of the first inning, the line up card read “Chris R” due up in the number 3 spot. When “Chris R’s” turn to bat came up, Ratelle was nowhere to be found. Luckily, we had another “Chris R” in Chris Ren and he ended up taking the at bat. When asked of his whereabouts a few minutes later, Chris Ratelle responded “I was watching the game right behind home plate” in the stands. That was close…
We’re glad to report that B. Tonogai managed to complete the ball game without getting hit by a pitch, thus ending his streak of consecutive games with a bruise.

This week’s player of the game should be pretty obvious but I will also note two other nominations to recognize their contributions:

Enrique Roblero 2 for 3, 1B(2), 1RS, 1RBI
Kelly Grace 2 for 4, 1B(2), 1RS, 1RBI
Kris Neidert 4 for 4, 1B(3), 2B, 1 RS, 1RBI , 3SB * 4IP, 2R 2ER, 3H, 2BB, 2K