Jul 17, 2011 | Dan Thompson | 336 views
Freshman Terriers Walk Off In Quarters, Lose In Semi's
On Sunday morning the 16U Terriers started the road to the championship at the New Era Cap Classic in Buffalo, NY by taking on the OIBA Prospetcs 18U in the quarter finals. Tyler Hardie put runs on the board early with his 2 out bases loaded triple down the left field line, scoring Hee Do Kim, Bruce Yari and Logan Stewart. After increasing their lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the second inning, the Prospects chipped away at the deficit with runs in the third, fourth and sixth innings.
With two out in the top of the seventh and the Terriers up 4-3, the Prospects tied the game on a single to centre field. Starting pitcher Bruce Yari, who whould go the distance, forced the 9 hole hitter to pop out to left field to end the inning, setting up another walk off win for the freshman Terriers. Hardie reached first on a fielders choice then stole second base. With with two out, Cal Murphy kept the inning going with a single to advance Hardie to third base allowing Ryan Grant to become the hero when he crushed a fastball that one hopped the fence in the deepst part of the ballpark at Canisius College. That would scored Hardie, giving the Terriers their second walk off win of the weekend and a spot in the Semi Finals.
Yari scattered five hits while striking out six.
In the semi finals, it was all Team New Era 18U early as they posted two runs in the second, one in the third and two more in the fourth. In the home half of the fourth, however, the Terriers mounted a rally and scored three runs on hits by Kyle Thalheimer, Murphy, Jake Gerovac and Zach Choy. That was as close as they would get as New Era tacked on four more runs in the sixth. The final ended up 9-4.