TIMMINS - It may have taken until their final game of the season, but the Victory Tavern Pirates finally picked up their first-ever win with a 12-10 decision over the Moneta Pub & Grub Brewers in Timmins Men's Baseball League (TMBL) play on Wednesday.
Austin Boulard finished 4-for-5 with four RBI and three runs scored, and pitched the final four innings of the game in relief of starter Nathan Latourelle. Boulard shut down the Brewers for just one run the rest of the way.
Both teams made six errors each on the night, but the Brewers' mistakes proved most costly as only three of the nine runs the Pirates scored over the first four innings against Kevin Furtney were charged to the Brewers' starting pitcher.
The Pirates took a 4-0 lead after two innings, highlighted by Boulard's two-run triple in the top of the second which plated Randy Pullen and Ivan Bernier.
The Brewers erupted for a five-run inning in the bottom of the fifth to take a temporary advantage. With two outs, Chad Shwendemann doubled home Deryk Morrish and Furtney. Thomas Scripnick got another run in after reaching third on a outfield error, and Richard Byrnes capped off the big inning with an RBI double.
But the Pirates took the lead back with two runs in the third, as Dan Simunovic doubled and scored on an error to catcher Dave Chantigny, while Nathan Johnston singled, stole second and eventually plated on a passed ball — one of 10 misses by the Brewers' fill-in backstop on the night.
The Brewers tied the game 6-6 with a run of their own in the bottom of the third, but the comedy of errors continued in the fourth with the Pirates plating three. Boulard hit another triple, this time for one run. He'd reach home on a Matt Foy sac fly before Latourelle walked and eventually scored on an error at first base.
The Brewers continued to claw back as they'd knot the game up 9-9 in the bottom of the fourth, as Schwendemann drew a walk, Scripnick doubled, and Byrnes drove them both home with a two-RBI double.
Byrnes would end his night 2-for-3 with three RBI and two runs scored, while Stephen Morgan went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
Byrnes' big night would continue for the Brewers, as he was forced to take the mound for a squad with no other regular pitchers available.
In his first-ever appearance on the mound to start the fifth, Byrnes walked Johnston, but followed that up with back-to-back strikeouts of T.J. Willet and Pullen. He'd pitch the final three innings and give up three runs, though not one of them were earned.
Bernier reached first on a dropped third strike, and a mix of walks, an error and a hit batter allowed two Pirates to cross the plate in the top of the sixth. Another dropped third strike against Shane Power in the seventh allowed him to reach base and eventually come home to give the Pirates some insurance with the team's first-ever TMBL win in sight.
The Brewers' last hope in the bottom of the seventh saw Chantigny single, steal second base and score on Morgan's RBI single, but Boulard would strike out Morrish to end the game and give the Pirates something to cheer about with their season coming to an end.
