Last-inning dramatics prevented the defending-champion Windsor Stars from dropping to 0-2 at the Baseball Canada Senior Championship.
Friday afternoon at Citizen Field, the Stars scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh and edged the Halifax Pelham Canadians 2-1. Windsor catcher Tyler Plumpton cracked the game-winning hit -- a hard single to left field -- off Halifax reliever Drandon McKinnon, who had replaced starter Jeff Reeves earlier in the inning.
On Plumpton's hit, teammate Thomas Grubb turned on the jets and scored from second base. For the Stars, the celebration was on, especially because another loss would have seriously damaged their chances to claim their second consecutive Canadian title.
In their Thursday opener, the Stars got a great game out of pitcher Steven Carter but were upset 2-0 by the Prince George Westcana Electric Axemen. On Friday, ace John Picco gave them another terrific outing and the Windsor offence came to life just in time.
"We had a good pitching performance [Thursday] night and didn't really swing the bats," said the 24-year-old Plumpton. "We got another good one today from John so we figured we better score late and battle and get a win. That's pretty big right there."
Grubb, the first batter McKinnon faced, had the other seventh-inning RBI for the Stars. His two-strike single brought home Bryan Dufour, who led off the inning with a walk.
The Canadians scored their run -- which was unearned -- in the top of the sixth.
Picco, the winning pitcher, surrendered four hits and fanned six batters in his seven innings of work. Reeves (five hits, five strikeouts) was just as strong for the Canadians, who slipped to 0-2 in the tournament.
"We put a good game together but we ran into a really good pitcher who was hitting his spots," said Halifax first baseman Shawn Peverill. "We would have liked to have a little more offence because our pitcher pitched a gem too but sometimes that's the way it goes."
The Canadians lost 10-3 to the Fort Saskatchewan A's of Alberta on Thursday.
Halifax will take on the Axemen at noon today at Citizen Field.
"Prince George is a good team but we think we've got the tools to give them a go," said the 26-year-old Peverill.
"Hopefully we can come out and hit the ball a little better than we did today and we could be all right."
At the conclusion of round-robin play today, the top two teams in each pool will advance to the playoff round.
