By JOE ECKSTROM
OBSERVER Sports Reporter
Two extra innings were not enough to decide a winner in a 1-1 tie as some of Chautauqua County's best baseball players were in action in Dunkirk, Saturday afternoon.
Article Photos
OBSERVER?Photo by Sean Pecuch
Team Verdero starting pitcher Jake Harford delivers a pitch Saturday, during his team’s game against the Bulletproof Prospects, at the Dunkirk Babe Ruth Field.
Team Verdero took on The Bulletproof Prospects from Welland, ON, in a game that featured a pair of aces on the hill.
Verdero featured former Silver Creek - and current Jamestown Community College hurler - Jake Harford, who threw six innings and racked up seven strikeouts. Westfield graduate, Austin Alonge, came on in relief to throw three innings of scoreless ball.
"The other team was out of Canada and they always have great talent up there," Verdero coach Frank Schrantz said. "We saw two good pitchers out there with Jake Harford and Austin Alonge."
The Prospects first batter of the game reached after a dropped third strike. That was followed up by a triple with one out to score their only run.
"When you get into the wood bats there is an adjustment from using the metal," Schrantz said. "That always plays a big role in games like this, but when you get two number one type pitchers going, runs are at a premium. Their run came off an error, so if we don't have that error it is a 1-0 shutout."
The home team went scoreless until they picked up some momentum in the bottom of the seventh.
Bulletproof pitcher, Dalton Procyshyn went six and two-thirds innings before he started to tire and let up four walks and Verdero's only run of the game.
"This is a good group of Chautauqua County players," Schrantz said. "With Thad Johnson from Frewsburg, Max Schrantz from Dunkirk and Nick Hart from Fredonia, it is kind of like our summer all-star team."
