By John DeCoste
The Wildcats’ hopes of finishing third or higher in the Nova Scotia Senior Baseball League standings took a hit Wednesday as Kentville dropped an 11-7 decision to the visiting Truro Bearcats at Memorial Park.
The last place Bearcats have won just eight of 27 games this season, but three of those wins have come in Kentville.
In Truro, the Wildcats have won by scores of 13-0, 10-7 and 18-2, but the Bearcats have prevailed 4-3, 6-3 and now 11-7 in Kentville.
Short on pitching, Wildcats’ head coach Ian Mosher turned to Ryan Power, a non-roster player who hasn’t pitched recently. The coach said it was a way “to see if he might be able to help us in the playoffs.”
Despite showing good velocity, Power had troubles finding the plate. As part of a six-batter trial, he struck out one, walked four and uncorked several wild pitches, allowing the Bearcats to score three runs without the benefit of a hit.
Christian Vogler took over for Power and, after walking another batter to load the bases, was able to get out of the inning without any more runs scoring.
The Wildcats got on the board with three runs in the bottom of the second to tie the score, the key hits being a two-run double by Jason Pleasant-Sampson and an RBI single by David MacIntyre.
But Truro came back with two runs off Vogler in the top of the third on a bases-loaded two-run single by Darson Murphy.
Corey Kent took over the pitching duties in the fourth and went the rest of the way, allowing two runs in the sixth and four more in the seventh for an 11-3 Truro lead.
Kentville responded with two in the eighth and two in the ninth, but it only served to make the final score a bit more respectable.
Bearcat Josh Fushtey went the distance for his second win in Kentville this season. Vogler, who allowed Truro to take the lead for good in the third, was the losing pitcher.
Jeff Chisholm had three RBI and Shawn Cote two for Truro. Tony Stewart finished with four singles and Mike Tobin a single and double.
For the Wildcats, Curtis Falls had three singles, Rob Shepherd two singles, and MacIntyre and Mike Lockhart a single and double and one RBI each.
Kentville, which fell back under .500 to 12-13 with the loss, is back in action this evening, Aug. 22, for another make-up game, this time against Halifax.
