TIMMINS - Randy Rice went five-for-five with four RBIs and two runs scored while his cousin Eryk Rice pitched all seven innings for the Lessard-Stephens Red Sox in a 16-7 win over the Champoux Homes-Wacky Wings Orioles in Game 2 of their Timmins Men’s Baseball League semifinal series.
The victory on Monday night at Fred Salvador Field allowed the Red Sox to even the best-of-five series between the two teams at 1-1.
A close 7-5 contest going into the top half of the seventh inning turned into a rout as every single Red Sox batter — nine to be exact — reached base and came around to score to put the game well out of reach.
But as the winning pitcher pointed out, one bad inning for the Orioles doesn’t mean the Red Sox will be taking their opponents lightly in any of the remaining games.
“It’s really close between the two teams,” said Eryk Rice, who went one-for-four at the plate with two runs scored in addition to the victory on the mound.
“We both have good pitching, good hitting, we’ve got good bats. Our defences aren’t the best, so it’s actually whoever plays the best defence wins, that’s what it comes down to.
“Tonight we got some great defence, good bats — I didn’t do anything at bat, actually, the rest of the team did — but it was nice to see. Randy (Rice) had a great game out there.”
The Orioles had taken a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first on back-to-back RBI singles by Mike Barber and Eric Boulard.
The Sox replied with three runs in the top of the second before seeing the Orioles knot it up at 3-3 a half-inning later on a two-out RBI single by Marc-André Lavoie.
The Red Sox put up another three-spot in the top of the third. Brent Cleverdon and Eryk Rice each singled and Sheldon Lacroix — who went two-for-four with two RBIs in the game — doubled to plate Cleverdon. Eric Comtois hit a ground-out to drive in Eryk Rice, while Randy Rice hit an RBI single of his own to give his team a 6-3 lead.
