Halifax hammers ’Cats 14-3

BY JOHN DECOSTE

jdecoste@kentvilleadvertiser.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

In a season that has been pretty much win one, lose one so far for the Kentville Wildcats, last Wednesday found the ’Cats on the losing end, and fairly emphatically.

The Halifax Pelham Canadians scored runs in each of the first five innings then added a six-run outburst in the eighth for a 14-3 win over the Wildcats on Kentville’s home field. The Canadians scored their 14 runs on 17 hits and three Kentville errors. The game was called after eight innings under the NSSBL 10-run ‘mercy rule’.

Halifax, which scored single runs in the first and second innings, added three in the third, one in the fourth and two in the fifth for an 8-2 lead.

After the Wildcats made it 8-3 in the seventh, Halifax erupted for six in the eighth, four of them on a Jay Turple grand slam, to round out the scoring.

Andrew MacIntosh went the distance for the win, overcoming some early wildness to scatter seven hits. Curtis Falls – who allowed 12 hits – pitched the first five innings and was tagged with the loss. Falls was relieved by Kevin Daurie in the sixth and Taylor Welch in the eighth.

Turple had a good night going even before his grand slam. He ended up with a single, double and homer and six RBIs.

Chris Gallivan had three singles and one RBI and Shawn Peverill and Shawn Walsh both tripled – the rarest hit in baseball – and combined for four RBIs. Walsh’s three-bagger came on a blooper to left field that fell among three Kentville defenders.

For the Wildcats, Kevin Benjamin and Rob Shepherd each had two singles and one RBI.

The loss dropped Kentville’s record to nine wins and 11 losses while Halifax improved to 10-8, good for a two-game bulge over third-place Kentville in the standings.

Following a pair of games this Saturday against Fredericton and Saint John as part of interprovincial play, the Wildcats travel to Dartmouth Thursday and Truro next Tuesday, and don’t return home until they host Truro in a doubleheader July 27.