It’s been a while, NDBA fans. Did you miss us?

 

Welcome back to another edition of Weekly RoundUp. Your one-stop shop for NDBA news, highlights and the always anticipated Three Stars. This is a holds-no-bars blog that gives you the extra scoop on your cone. You know… the good stuff.

 

We took a one-week hiatus to get some extra games in, it’s been a rainy spring so far, hasn’t it? But, with two weeks of worth of games to cover, we’re going to be looking at only the best moments over the last fourteen days.  

 

News of the Week

 

• Can anyone stop the Rose City Thorns? The team has continued to dominate at all stages of the game. The own the league’s best team ERA at 1.28 over 42 innings headed into action on Sunday, that’s a tremendous formula for success. They can win 10-4, like they did against the Anchors back on May 25^th. Or they can eke out a tough one, like in their 2-1 win over Thorold on Sunday night.

 

• Cam McKnight’s streak of 11 scoreless innings to start the season was snapped on Friday night against the Niagara Falls Expos. The Pitcher of the Month for the month of May had by far the best start out of the gate. Ryan Soltesz (3.2IP) now owns the title of pitcher with the most innings and a 0.00 ERA.

 

• Speaking of the Expos, they appear to have re-emerged after starting the season 0-3. Their defense has shown signs of improvement as they’re committing less and less errors as the games move on. Plus, they’ve managed to get themselves back to .500 after three consecutive wins. The runners-up from the 2021 campaign could be a threat once more.

 

The Highlights

 

31-05-22 Fort Erie Cannons 4 – Thorold Anchors 3

 

A Tuesday night game between the Cannons and Anchors from nearly two weeks ago begins our recap. Josh Kuderian picks up his first win of the season. Pitching two and one third innings in relief, where he allowed just one hit and struck out five batters to give his team a chance to come back.

 

Anchors led for most of this game; Kevin Hastie (1-for-3) and Russ McKeown (1-for-1) each had an RBI in the first. Luke Edwards did his part, holding the Cannons in check for the first half before giving way to the bullpen in the fourth. Anchors still led at the turn of the sixth inning.

 

Randy Kraneyk (2-for-4) gets familiar with Anchors’ newbie, Rylie Gambell and sends an RBI double to left field in the top of the seventh – it would be your game winner.

 

Ryan Soltesz picks up a save, and the Cannons move to 2-0 on the year.

 

 

05-06-22 Welland Senior Baseball Team 1 – Rose City Thorns 2

 

Rain keeps us off the field for five days, as we move to Sunday night and a game between the Thorns and the Seniors.

 

Matt Porkolab got the start and was sheer brilliance, scattering two walks and two hits over four scoreless innings of work.

 

Dave Knaus (2-for-3) is the hero as his second double of the ball game scores Ted Beadle and Erik Willikson and stands up as the game-winner.

 

Matt Wintermute pitched well in the loss. The Seniors’ vet tossed five innings and allowed the two lone runs plus four hits and two walks with two strikeouts. Welland threatened late in the game when Scott Cole (2-for-3) scored

Brian Lepp on an RBI double. One of two on the night for him.

 

Thorns go to 5-0 with a character win over their inner-city rivals.

 

 

06-06-22 Fort Erie Cannons 7 – Merritton Alliance 8

 

A feature game this week, the Cannons and Alliance played in a soggy one at Oakes Park on Monday night that saw the Alliance walk-off the “away” team.

 

Mark Fusco (3-for-4; 4RBI) was massive in this game both with the sticks and behind the plate, but he also delivered the game-winner in what can only be described as a Fusco flutter shot. The man picked a spot and found it on Monday. As his teammate, Kyle Parris put it: “Fusco does, as Fusco does.”

 

Cannons led by as many as five runs in this game. Jeff Bruneau (1-for-3) put the exclamation point on the offense with his two-run homerun in the top of the fifth.

 

Alliance scored six times in the bottom of the seventh when a downpour struck the park, causing relief pitcher Blair McNeil to lose the handle multiple times.

 

It wasn’t how they drew it up, but the Alliance move to 2-1 on the season in a six-run comeback over the Cannons.

 

 

08-06-22 Niagara Falls Expos 13 – Welland Senior Baseball Team 7

 

We now head back to Welland Stadium for a tilt between the Seniors and the then-struggling Expos, who were still looking for the first win of the season.

 

Liam Jacques went a full seven innings in the win but took a beating to the tune of seven runs (five earned) on nine hits and three walks adding four Ks in the win.

 

Defense was on the softer side on Wednesday as the ground may have been a bit softened by the rain. Teams committed a combined nine errors, with the Expos accounting for six of those gaffs.

 

Frank Barber (2-for-4), Chico Anderi (2-for-4) and Brian Lepp (2-for-4) each had multi-hit games, despite the loss.

 

The seven runs scored is tied for the most runs scored this season in a loss (Cannons; Expos).

 

Expos come off the snide and move to 1-3, their first of many wins in this recap.

 

 

10-06-22 Merritton Alliance 2 – Niagara Falls Expos 5

 

Oh, hey! We were just talking about the Expos. Well, they were back in action on Friday night for the first of two games in the NDBA to kick off the weekend.

 

Expos rookie, Steven Erickson got the call and was stellar in his second outing of the year. Put Erickson down for five innings in which he allowed two runs (one earned) on six hits and two walks with three strikeouts for his first

win in the NDBA.

 

Alliance pulled ahead 2-1 in the top of the fourth on a Chris Sawatsky (1-for-4; RBI) single up the middle. That lead would be short lived, as Cody Lyndon (2-for-3) answered an inning later with an RBI-double as part of a two-run frame for the Expos.

 

Lyndon was one of four players on Niagara Falls to register a multi-hit game in the win.

 

Cam McKnight tarnishes his perfect ERA after 11 innings of shutout baseball to start the season. A truly dominant run and I don’t think another player will stay as unscathed as that. As of this writing, only 10 active pitchers own a 0.00 ERA.

 

Expos go to 2-3, but they weren’t done yet. Stay tuned.

 

 

10-06-22 Thorold Anchors 5 – St. Catharines Cobras 3

 

Anchors and Cobras played the first extra-innings game of 2022 on Friday night in the 7:30 p.m. start at McMillan Park.

 

Teams traded runs through the first two innings and stayed knotted at three through the seventh inning. There were multiple ejections here, including Anchors skipper, Aaron McInnis. *I always love a good McInnis scuffle, I’m genuinely sad I missed this one*

 

Anthony Brown (1-for-1) doubled in the top of the ninth inning to seal it for the Anchors. Cobras committed an error off the bat of Dylan Dempsey that would ultimately cost them.

 

Rylie Gambell got the win on the mound for the Anchors. He cleaned up the final three frames and allowed no runs or hits with one strikeout, holding it down in the extra stages of the game.

 

Anchors pick up their second win of the season in perhaps the most exciting game of the year to date by the sounds of it. *really really sad though*

 

 

12-06-22 St. Catharines Cobras 5 – Niagara Falls Expos 7

 

On the cut-off day for this RoundUp we took a trip down to Chippawa Lions Park for an afternoon game between these two clubs.

 

What an entertaining game this was.

 

Jason Antoniak made a splash with a solo homerun in the bottom of the third to cap a 5-1 lead for the Expos in the early stages of the game.

 

Serge Gervais made a game of it in the fifth with the first grand slam of 2022 to tie the game– capping off a week of many firsts around the league in a big way.

 

Rookie starter Brian Kusey picked up the win, deservedly so. The Gervais knock was the only blemish on a great afternoon. Pencil him in for five earned runs on eight hits and three walks with 10 strikeouts over his six innings of work. Credit Liam Jacques with a save.

 

Cobras fall flat twice this week as they search for that elusive first win. While the Expos get back to .500 after a perfect week and rally off their third straight win.

 

 

12-06-22 Thorold Anchors 1 – Rose City Thorns 2

 

This one is fresh in your mind if you keep up with our “Recaps” section on ndbaseniorbaseball.com. We (try) to cover games daily so check back every so often to stay updated on who’s Daddy Hacking. Okay, shameless plug over.

 

Our nightcap on Sunday was perhaps just as enthralling as the matinee (if not more so).

 

Tyler Rose came out to play in this one and made a classic Tyler Rose start. Over his complete game gem, he surrendered one unearned run on two hits and one walk with sic strikeouts to pickup the win.

 

He padded his lead in the bottom of the second with an RBI-single to cash in on Tyler Wood’s leadoff double to start the game. Matt Holman also chimed in with the only multi-hit game from either team.

 

It looked poised to be a barnburner, however Luke Edwards would pull in the reigns in relief of Adam Bartlett. The wily vet tossed a solid four innings, where he gave up no runs and three hits with two strikeouts, giving his team a chance to mount a comeback.

 

Anchors tried in the top of the fourth, when they scored one run and stranded the bases loaded.

 

Three Stars

 

This is it NDBA fans, the moment we’ve all been waiting for.

 

I’ve admitted many times before that picking the three stars can be a dubious task. If you feel like you’ve been snubbed, drop us a line @NDBAsenior and we’ll argue like two dogs behind a chain-link fence.

 

The edition features the performances that stood out most to me. Consistency may be key. Or maybe a stellar performance was the answer. I feel all our stars deserve to be up here.

 

Steven Erickson (Niagara Falls Expos)

 

Well, well, well… another first win for an NDBA rookie and another star on the walk of fame. Erickson pitched on Friday night against a high-powered Alliance team and held them to their lowest run total of the year over his five innings. There’s something to be said about being able to answer that kind of call. Erickson owns a 2.33 ERA and a 1.83 WHIP over six innings so far. A small sample size, but we may see great things from many rookies on the Expos this year. Steven Erickson is this week’s third star.

 

Mark Fusco (Merritton Alliance)

 

There are many excellent catchers in the NDBA, but few do it like Mark Fusco does behind the dish in Merritton. He’s been one of the most consistent hitters in the early going, is second in the league in RBIs (6) and is slashing .500/.533/1.053 in 15 plate appearances this season. On Monday night in Fort Erie, he lamented being responsible for a Jeff Bruneau homerun that was left over the plate. But he atoned for the pitch by delivering the game-winner as part of a 4-RBI game. A clutch performance throughout, Mark Fusco earns himself the third star of the week.

 

Tyler Rose (Rose City Thorns)

 

With respects to Matt Holman who also had a tremendous week at the dish, Tyler Rose stole the show on Sunday night against the Thorold Anchors. It’s hard to turn away from a complete-game performance, but with the bases loaded and one out in the fourth, Rose fields the comebacker and makes the out at home in a very intense moment in the game. Winners do what it takes to win, that’s evident in the fact that a Thorn sits in this spot for the second-straight RoundUp. Tyler Rose is the first star of the week.