Jackfish honour 'Rocco' before besting the Barnstormers

By ROD MAWHOOD

The Welland Jackfish honoured one of the Rose City's finest, Rocco Franco, before stopping the Chatham-Kent Barnstormers 3-2 Thursday night at The Pond.

With 2,283 fans packing Welland Stadium, including dozens of Jackfish faithful donning safety-vests in honour of Rocco, the home side opened a 3-0 first inning lead and never looked back. 

Welland starter Ben Abram pitched seven brilliant innings and lowered his earned run average to 2.14 on the season. 

Mike Mueller and Deivy Mendez pitched two shutout innings of relief, as Abram and Mendez now lead the Intercounty Baseball League in wins and saves respectively. 

"Those three, Abram, Mueller and Mendez were great," said Jackfish Manager Brian Essery. "We're going to need more of that down the stretch and definitely in the playoffs." 

Welland improved to (22-7) overall and now embark on a four-game road swing beginning Friday night in Brantford.