The California Lumberkings split an exhibition doubleheader Thursday night in St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada, dropping the opener to the host Niagara Snappers, then winning the nightcap, 4-2 over the GHFL All-Stars. The games were charity fundraisers for Melissa Brideau, (Click here for details).
Click here to listen to an interview with Jason Paylove about the fund raiser.
The Lumberkings traveled east this week to the Niagara Falls area for the “Snapper Shootout”, arriving early Thursday, so they could participate in the exhibition games, organized by Dan Bernard of the Snappers, with a big assist from ISC II commish Blair Setford. who arranged the broadcasts on Ballparkradio, and publicized the event on his website, GHFL.ca. Blair enlisted lead announcer Kyle Smith and Snapper Matt Bedrosian to do color. (Blair broadcast the first game, then played third base in the second game for the GHFL squad, notching a base hit for good measure).
In the opener, the Snappers shut down the potent Lumberking offense, in a game that could easily have been the ISC II championship last summer in Kitchener. The Snappers lost a heartbreaking, extra-inning game to eventual winner TNT of Pennsylvania in the semis, or they would have met the Lumberkings in the finals. The Lumberkings went on to finish second, while the Snappers tied for third with A-1 Taylor Farms, of California. Thursday night’s game saw different rosters for both clubs than those which played in the 2007 ISC II, but a well matched game nonetheless. In the end, it was the Snapper pitching that made the difference, shutting out the Lumberkings, no easy feat.
In the nightcap, an all-star cast from the Golden Horseshoe Fastball League played the Lumberkings dead even into the top of the 7th inning, until Gerry Kennedy hit a three run homer to break the 1-1 tie, enroute to a 4-2 win. Kennedy was brought in by the Lumberkings to fill the big shoes of All-World DH, Jon Nimmo, (who hit several big home runs in last year’s T of C). Gerry Kennedy, or “GK” as his teammates call him, showed Thursday night that the shoes were a perfect fit. Kennedy was named the game’s most valuable player.
The Lumberkings will head down the road from St. Catherines, Ontario to Niagara Falls, Ontario, for this weekend’s Snapper Shootout. Watch this blog for scores this weekend.
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