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It’s that time once again for the one and only NDBA Weekly RoundUp, now completely retooled for all your Niagara baseball needs and beyond!
We’re in our third season as your once-a-week destination for baseball news. As we continue to fine-tune what makes this a fun segment to visit, we’ll continue to take in comments and make this a more anticipated blog to visit on the weekly. Look for new segments and quicker hits this season.
Unfortunately, we did not get as much of the action as we were promised in our first full week of action, but we’re still going to give you the best moments, hot takes and of course, the first three stars of the 2022 season.
For me, it’s hard to imagine being able to fully reign in another year without setting up our little lemonade stand in the front yard. We may not be selling a tasty beverage, but you won’t leave here feeling parched. Let’s dive in.
News of the Week
- I reported during my pre-season write up that this would be the final season for the Welland Chiefs as the Chiefs. The idea was to ride out this year and rebrand in the winter, complete with new logo and team name. Well, that was quite a ride. Ontario Baseball has demanded the Chiefs ditch the name and logo effective… erm… right now. The team will be known as the Welland Senior Baseball Team for the remainder of the 2022 season.
- The lights at George Taylor Field are still having some issues. It postponed last Wednesday game between the Alliance and Cannons, and we don’t know whether they’ll be ready in time for Thursday night’s game between the Cobras and Expos. Based on timelines I’ve heard; it sounds like it should be all systems go going forward. But, with all the changes the park has undergone in the last 12 calendar month to get ready for the Canada Games, it feels like an eternity since the Alliance have populated the ‘Home’ bench in Merritton. It’ll be a long-overdue homecoming for them.
- It’s just a bug in the rumor mill at this point, but I heard through the grapevine that one of the Cannon’s rookies is an ambidextrous pitcher. If that’s true, and it shows up in game this year, it would be the first-so instance of an ambidextrous pitcher in NDBA history. A little tidbit for the water cooler this week.
- I always love to see the Thorold Anchors do more for the community. I would be vexed with myself if I didn’t take the time to mention their annual non-perishable food drive located at the entranceway of every home game. Last season the team filled their fair share of buckets, including an overflowing one in a single game thanks to the Fort Erie Cannons:
(left to right: Justin Hall, Aaron McInnis, Pat Giampaolo) Members of the Fort Erie Cannons and Thorold Anchors stand around a huge haul of goodies during the Anchors food rive last season.
- The Anchors can also be found LIVE on Gamechanger this year. It’s a cool addition and it’s something we may progressively see more of as the league continues to grow.
The Highlights
05-13-22 - Welland Senior Baseball Team 9 Niagara Falls Expos – 7
Ah yes, the season opener.
The Welland Senior Baseball Team and Niagara Falls Expos did not meet in the 2021 postseason, so it had been quite a while since they last run into each other. The fireworks were set off instantly.
Josh Thorpe (2-for-2; 3RBI) gets the party started with a two-run double in the bottom of the first. Expos led 7-2 headed into the sixth inning before the team suffered a defensive collapse that resulted in Welland’s monumental comeback.
Nick Buckborough goes 3-for-4 with three RBIs in his first NDBA game, an impressive start for the rookie. Abraham Baez picks up his first win, he had to wait until mid-summer last year to get his first W, that must feel good for the second-year pitcher.
05-15-22 - Merritton Alliance 2 Rose City Thorns 3 (Game of the Week)
**As always, we’ll be doing in depth coverage of one game in the NDBA in our Game of the Week segment. For newcomers, this is the ‘Feature Game’ complete with game photos, live tweeting @NDBAsenior and post-game interviews, check out the ‘NEWS’ tab for more in-depth coverage. **
That was a treat for the first Game of the Week. The defending champion, Thorns and the Merritton Alliance are perhaps the two most talented teams in the league right now and they put it on full display on Sunday night at Welland Stadium.
Rose City showed their depth at pitcher by throwing an army of hard-throwing young arms at the Alliance, who had success in short bursts only.
Tyler Stack played both sides of the ball very well in this one, showing his range in right field and producing the game-winning run. Thorns rookie, Alex Davy earned the win in his first appearance in the NDBA, grinding out two shutout innings where he struck out four batters.
Cam McKinght also tossed a gem in this one, going four strong, allowing no runs and scattering one hit and one walk while striking out five.
"It's not the outcome you want, but it's still a great night for baseball," Alliance catcher, Mark Fusco said after the game. "We had a full bench tonight and everyone was just excited to play ball again. Timely hitting will come and there's still a little bit of rust to shake out, but overall, it's a positive night."
On a night where the overall tone was an excitement to be on the field, the result did not seem to matter as much as the experience. Everyone wins on Sunday night.
05-17-22 – Niagara Falls Expos 5 Thorold Anchors 9
The Expos were one again their own worst enemy when the met with Anchors at McMillan Park on Tuesday night. The team committed 11 errors in their two games this week and look like a shell of the team that went undefeated all the way to the finals of last year’s playoff tournament. We’ll chalk it up to some rust to shake off for now.
Expos also had to deal with Dan Boekestyn, who made an immediate impact on the season with his two-run homerun in the bottom of the third. It put his team up 7-2 at that stage in the game and was the eventual game-winner. At that point, it looked like it might be a barnburner, but the Expos righted the ship not long after the third inning.
Anchors threw five pitchers in total behind Luke Edwards, who surrendered just two runs on two hits and three walks with two Ks in his three innings of work.
Josh Thorpe (2-for-3; 2 RBI), who appears dialed in to start the year, managed to put together a solid night again for the Expos in the loss.
Expos fall to 0-2 early in the season as the Anchors nab their first win in the young NDBA season.
Three Stars of the Week
Tyler Stack
Without a doubt the hero in the Thorns/Alliance game. He made his only base hit of the game count, scoring the winning runs on the play. And he made a few good plays in right field, including one that I’m still not sure how he managed to make it in time. Honorary mentions go to both defenses in that game, third star goes to the vet.
Josh Thorpe
Thorpe had the best overall week on offense of anybody in the NDBA. He went 4-for-5 with 5 RBI and under many circumstances would be the number one star of the week. This is a column that has always called out the greats but rewarded the winners. Now 0-2 out of the gate, Thorpe and Expos will look for success at the team level in week two, no doubt. Josh Thorpe is this week’s second star.
Nick Buckborough 
We don’t know much just yet about Nick Buckborough. We know he’ll be behind the plate some games for the Welland Senior Baseball Team and that he hails from the Junior Jackfish. Well, he made quite the impression in his debut and was able to get his team over the hump in a game where they surely thought they were out of it. Buckborough 3-for-4; 3RBI performance was enough to catch this reporter’s eye this week and earn the youngster his first NDBA first star of the week!
