Grand Slam carries Jackfish to win over the Red Sox

Photo by CJH Photography • Story by Spencer Tanguay

Welland, Ontario -  The Welland Jackfish welcomed the Brantford Red Sox to the Pond for the first time this season and for the second meeting between the two ball clubs this year.  

The Red Sox opened the scoring in the first, cashing in three times on the Jackfish starting pitcher, lefty Rich Corrente. Brantford would tack on one more in the third which saw the visiting and winless Red Sox up by four.  

The Jackfish were struggling to get timely hitting leaving several men on base in the early stages of the ball game.  Cue Tony Kwonm after getting the bases loaded with two outs and down in the count 0-2, Kwon would get the Fish back in it off a huge grand slam over the left-field wall.  

“I just wanted to get the ball in play and make the defense work but didn’t expect to see the curveball left hanging out there again” Said Kwon who tied the ball game up at 5.  

Welland would tack on one more run in the bottom half of the fourth to lead 6-5.  This is where the game gets interesting. Nick Burdett at the plate for the Red Sox with Sutherland on first base and Pilarczyk on second base. Burdett hits a fly ball that lands very close to the foul line down the first baseline.  The first base umpire signaled foul which stopped play; however, it was not clear on the field what the call was after Pilarcyzk rounded third and scored after the foul ball was signaled.  

A lengthy heated discussion between Jackfish personnel and the umpires solved nothing as Pilarcyzk was credited with a run which tied the game at 6.  Very next pitch, the Red Sox catcher, Colton Fountain capitalized off an RBI single to left which saw the Sox jump ahead 7-6.  The Jackfish though would clear their heads and find a way to score three more and pick up their first win at home by a final score of 10-7.  

Welland improves to 2-2 while Brantford drops their third straight and falls to 0-3.  The fun continues on Saturday afternoon when the Barrie Baycats make their first trip to the Pond this season for 1:05pm ball game.