Reg Barry's curve ball got better with age.
The Lomak midget Knights teed off on the 22-year-old pitcher for the Inland Control and Services Tigers in the early going Thursday. But he got a handle on it in time to salvage a 6-5 win over the Knights, who came into the game leading the Northland Dodge Prince George Senior Baseball League.
"It's always fun playing them because I'm only a few years out of the Knights and they're always near my age," said Barry. "But it's a different dynamic over there now, there's a big difference from when I played with them. They go out for wins and when they win they're good."
Down 4-2 to start the bottom of the fifth, the Tigers picked their spots and countered with a four-run inning. Barry started it when Knights reliever Cole Schwing plunked him at the plate. Scott Atherton and Nurr Osmund hit back-to-back singles, scoring one run, and Angelo Desantis and Chris Clark each followed up with RBI hits to put the Tigers on top. Before the inning was over, Lyle Boutin flied out to score Clark from third base to make it a 6-4 count.
But the Knights weren't going away quietly. Scott Walters led off the sixth with a basehit and worked his way over to third base with Craig Budskin at the plate. Budskin's high fly-out to right field allowed Walters to tag up and run home with the Knights fifth run
The Tigers threatened to add to their lead in the sixth. Graham Allard stole his way to third base after welcoming reliever A.J. Nickolet into the game with a single and with two out, Osmund pounded out a ball that dropped sharply into centrefield, but Michael Taylor chased it down to end the inning.
Down to their last bats, Taylor gave the Knights some hope in the seventh with two-out slicer that landed in centrefield but Schwing hit a sharp grounder back to the shortstop, Osmund, to end the game.
"With Nurr pitching yesterday he had a sore arm and I don't know how but he made for of five nice throws from short," said Barry. "He played pretty good, especially with the last out, bobbling around. We like those close games, it's a lot of fun."
The 17-year-old Schwing took the loss, tagged with four runs on four hits in two innings. Barry limited the Knights to 10 hits to notch the win, which improved the Tigers' record to 10-8. The Knights (13-7) are now tied with the D.O.B. Contracting Gladiators atop the standings in the five-team league.
It was the last game for the Knights before they host the double-A midget provincial championship, starting next Thursday. Held to just two wins in the senior league last year, they've been playing well all of this season and hope that translates into success against their midget-aged peers at the 10-team tournament.
"They had a couple hits that went their way and that's the way the game goes," said Schwing. "It's a different style of play. They hit the ball a lot harder and throw a lot harder and it's different from what we see."
In the late game Thursday, the K’n’B Contracting Orioles took on the Queensway Auto World Red Sox. The Orioles had an early 2-0 lead after two-run shot in the first inning from Jon Bourassa off pitcher Jordan Patterson. That game was still in progress at presstime.
