John Chapman, seen in action earlier this season, went the distance and tossed a three-hitter in the Truro Beatcats’ series-clinching 6-1 win over the Kentville Wildcats.
Last year, it was the fourth-place Bearcats bringing down the pennant-winning Sydney Sooners.
And last night, the Bearcats – again seeded fourth in the Nov Scotia Senior Baseball League playoffs – capped a three-game sweep of first-place Kentville Wildcats.
After rain forced postponement of the third game in the best-of-five semifinal Wednesday night with Truro up 2-1 in the top of the third, the Bearcats travelled back to Kentville and left no doubt Thursday evening, finishing off a 6-1 victory.
It was Jeff Chisholm who staked Truro to the 2-1 lead Wednesday night with a two-run homer in the opening inning, as Kentville responded in the bottom of the second before the weather disrupted things.
Bearcats ace John Chapman pitched the entire way to earn the win in his second start of the post season, giving up just three hits. Alex Ostrov took the loss on the mound for the Wildcats.
At the plate, Truro pounded out eight hits, including Chisholm’s round-tripper, while Guy Pellerine smacked a double and single and Ryan Bates chipped in two singles and had an RBI.
For Kentville, Codey Shrider had a double and drove in a run and John Ansara singled and had the Wildcats’ lone run.
With the sweep, Truro now gets the weekend off as they await the winner of the other semifinal between second-seeded Sooners and Dartmouth Moosehead Dry, the third-place team.
Dartmouth leads that best-of-five series 2-0 as play resumes in Sydney with a double-header Saturday. Game times are 3:30 p.m. and, if necessary, 7 p.m. Should the Sooners tie the series, the deciding game will be Sunday at 1 p.m., also in Sydney
