Senior Jays split a four-game week

June 29, 2016 · 0 Comments

By Jake Courtepatte

A pair of wins and a pair of losses last week kept the senior Aurora Jays at a steady pace heading into the final month of the North Dufferin Baseball League season.

They kicked off the week with a 10 – 7 win over the struggling Nobleton Cornhuskers, on the backs of the strong pitching duo of Rob Spencer and Daniel Lehmkuhl.

The bottom of the Nobleton lineup exploded for five runs in the second inning before the starting Spencer settled down with a total of five strikeouts and just one more run through his four innings of work.

Lehmukhl pitched a solid remaining three innings, fanning six batters and giving up just one run and one hit. He also went two-for-five at the plate, scoring twice.

Traveling to Midland on Thursday to take on the Indians, the Jays were on the wrong end of an epic comeback in a 7 – 6 loss.

Stephan Vallee, Ian Rettie, Brad Crosby, Andrew Bukovec, Ian Milne, and Kyle Picken all crossed the plate for Aurora in the first three innings, taking a 6 – 0 lead. Starting pitcher Devon Wu was finally solved by the Indians in the bottom of the third, riding the strength of a pair of doubles to make it a 6 – 4 ball game.

He was pulled after four innings when Midland brought it to 6 – 5, and Zach Wiseman eventually took the loss when he allowed a run in each of the fifth and sixth innings to cap off the comeback.

The week closed out on Sunday with a road trip to both Creemore and Mansfield, splitting a day where the bats never seemed to tire.

Milne was the victim on the mound for two home runs by the Creemore Barons in game one, taking a close 12 – 11 loss to the .500-level team.

Heading to Mansfield as soon as the final out was earned to face the last-place Cubs, the Jays’ bats stayed hot in the highest-scoring game by any team this NDBL season.

They managed to score 23 runs in just five innings of work, spreading 19 hits through eight different batters in a 23 – 8 win. Seven different members of the Aurora lineup had a multi-hit game, including three hits from each of Vallee, Lehmkuhl, Ian Rettie, and Ted Beadle. Crosby hit his second jack of the year out of the park, his first since the opening game of the season.

Nathan Robinson went the distance on the mound for his first win.

Sunday’s high-scoring affair with the Cubs gave the Jays 127 runs on the season, a familiar first in the AA league and eight more than the first-place Ivy Leafs.

The 10-6-0 Jays currently sit in a tight race in the middle of the league standings, just one point up on the sixth-place Giants and two points back of the fourth-place Clearview Orioles.

Following a heavy road schedule as of late, only one game is on the docket this week in a matchup with the Creemore Barons on Tuesday after press time.
For stats, schedules, and more information, visit www.ndbl.ca.