It was a back-and-forth battle throughout, until the Sooners broke the game open with four runs in the eighth.
The win gives the Sooners a 1-0 series lead, with game 2 scheduled for Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m., at the TAAC Grounds.
Truro got out to a good start Friday at the TAAC Grounds, plating two runs in the bottom of the first. Adam Lombard singled to get things going and John Chapman was hit by the pitch. After a Jeff Chisholm walk to load the bases, Dan Bates doubled to the gap to score Lombard and Chapman, however, Chisholm was thrown out at the plate.
The Sooners got sticks going in the top of the second. With two out, Sean Ferguson doubled and Johnny MacLeod singled to bring in Ferguson. Then, Justin Brewer showed some opposite field power blasting one over the right field fence making it 3-2 in Sydney’s favour.
Jason Smith was lead-off batter for the Bearcats in the bottom of the second and took Sydney pitcher Sheldon MacDonald’s first pitch over the fence in left-centre field to tie it at three.
Sydney scored again in the third to make it 4-3 but the Bearcats responded in their half of the fourth, getting a boost from the bottom of their order. After Bates got aboard on an error, number eight in the order, Shawn Mullins, singled to bring Bates in and tie the game. Then with Matt Mingo aboard, number 9 hitter Justin Morton delivered a sacrifice fly that brought Mingo in to make it 5-4.
However, in the eighth, the Sooners connected for five hits that would cash in four runs and put them up 8-5 and that was the way things ended.
macDonald earned the win on the mound for the Sooners, while Chapman took the loss for Truro.
After today’s game, the series shifts to Sydney next weekend for a Friday night game and a double-header slated for Saturday, as needed.
