[Alsfastball] St. Thomas off to hot start

[Al Doran]

From: "Mike Obrien" <mobrien at canadianwealth.com>
Subject: St. Thomas off to hot start
To: "Al Doran" <fastball at pmihrm.com>



[]

St. Thomas off to hot start

Evergreen Centennials hurler Frank Cox fires a no hitter against the 
Edmonton Express.
<mailto:ebender at lfpress.com>ERIC BENDER, London Free Press Sports

Canadian championships are becoming rather routine for Frank Cox but 
his fourth one this decade would be just fine.

Cox, who helped hurl his hometown Owen Sound team to titles in 2000, 
2002 and 2003, reeled off a no-hitter yesterday afternoon to get his 
adopted St. Thomas Evergreen Centennials off to a 2-0 first-game win 
at this year's Canadian senior men's fastball championship.

The victim was Edmonton Express pitcher Darrell Tilley, who was down 
1-0 after the fourth inning. Legendary pitcher Darren Zack took over 
in the fifth but his presence couldn't inspire the Express to deliver 
and St. Thomas added an insurance run off him.

Owen Sound's team disbanded after the 2003 season and Cox, like many 
elite fastballers with arms or bats for hire, moved around.

"I played with Ryan Wolfe (St. Thomas centre-fielder) with Broken Bow 
(a U.S. team) and I knew him," Cox said of his decision to play with 
St. Thomas in the Canadians.

Last year, Cox played for Halifax. "And I've played with Sean O'Brien 
(catcher). The rest of them I've played against and I know them that way."

"We have a solid team and solid defence but we've got to get some 
better hitting," said Cox. "We were a little slow starting but we've 
not played for a couple of weeks." The Evergreen Centennials played 
six tournaments this year.

Cox, 35, walked the first batter he faced but was flawless from then 
on and fanned 11 en route to a complete-game seven innings.

Last night, the Centennials beat the Eastmain Fireballs from Quebec 
11-0 as pitcher Trevor Wardell tossed a five-inning perfect game to 
give St. Thomas a 2-0 record after the tourney's opening day.

The first game against Edmonton, before just shy of 1,000 fans at the 
Doug Tarry complex in southeast St. Thomas, was won in the second 
inning when designated player Rob O'Brien walked. He was replaced by 
pinch-runner Kevin Lynch who moved to second on Brian Harvey's 
sacrifice bunt and took third on a wild pitch. Second baseman Tex 
Lessard's single to centre scored Lynch for the only run the 
tournament host team needed.

St. Thomas had six hits in the opener. Three were given up by Tilley 
and three by Zack, in the sixth inning.

With two out, Rob O'Brien hit the longest ball of the game, a double 
to the centre- field fence. First baseman Harvey hit a teaser that 
dropped between the Edmonton infield and outfield and scored O'Brien 
from second for the 2-0 lead.

"There were not a lot of hits today," said Harvey, who is from London.

Harvey and Evergreen Centennials coach Bill Horne had been expecting 
to face Zack from the start. However, Zack was late arriving and 
didn't have adequate time to warm up.

"When you've got a tight game like 1-0 you bring in Zack," said Harvey.

"We knew they (Edmonton) had a good team and they have Zack," said 
Horne. "Cox was exceptional. Our bats have to get going more."

No one is expressing any cockiness about winning the 2005 title.

"There are five or six teams here that can win it," said Harvey. "In 
this kind of game one hit can make the difference."




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