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From the Prince George Citizen
Jarvis winning streak hits five

by JASON PETERS Citizen staff
Andrew Phibbs felt the heat, but he put out the fire.

With his Ontario-based Jarvis Merchants leading the Saskatoon Aspen Interior Black Sox 4-1 in the top of the sixth inning Friday night at Spruce City Stadium, Phibbs entered the game in relief of starting pitcher Jamie Simpson.

Phibbs came into the contest, surrounded by runners on the basepaths. Facing batter Geoff Evely, Phibbs got the strikeout to end the inning and the Saskatoon threat.

After more work from Phibbs in the top of the seventh, the Merchants had a 4-1 victory at the Canadian senior men’s fastpitch championship.

Phibbs, 25, downplayed his role in the victory.

“Simper had pitched 5 2/3 innings strong,” Phibbs said. “All I had to do was strike one guy out — that was my job so I came in and did it.

“There’s always pressure in a situation like that, no matter where you are. The more you think about it, the more it will get to you. You’ve just got to come in and throw the ball hard.”

In the top of the seventh, Phibbs started by striking out Bill Simmons. But, the next two batters — Keith Mackintosh (single to left field) and Darrell Joy (walk) — reached base. The Black Sox twice brought the tying run to the plate, but Phibbs forced Dean Holoien to pop the ball up for the second out and fanned Chad Hanson to end the game.

“I got a little nervous there, no doubt, but I just threw the ball on my corners and we managed to survive,” Phibbs said.

The Black Sox scored their lone run in the top of the first inning. In the bottom of the first, the Merchants responded in a big way by putting three runners across home plate.

The big blow for Jarvis came off the bat of Brad Robinson, who cracked a three-run home run over the fence in centre field. The long ball, off Saskatoon starter Trevor Ethier, was the 82nd of the tournament.

Jarvis added its fourth run in the bottom of the second inning when a sacrifice fly by Thompson scored Greg Courneyga from third base.

Jarvis finished the game with nine hits, while Saskatoon had six.

Holoien relieved Ethier on the pitching rubber in the bottom of the third inning. At one point in the game, Holoien struck out six of nine Jarvis batters.

With the victory, Jarvis earned a date today with its Ontario rivals, the St. Thomas Evergreen Centennials, the defending national champions. The teams will be on the field at Spruce City Stadium at 6 p.m.

“We’ll have a tough game (today) and we’re looking forward to it,” Phibbs said. “We’ve played St. Thomas lots. We’ve got new guys, they’ve got new guys. It’s the Canadians, it’s hard to say (what might happen). Everybody’s pumped up so we’ll have a good game.”

This entry was posted on Friday, September 1st, 2006 at 3:28 pm and is filed under Canada, Tournaments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.