David Oxford provided just that and then some for the black and gold Tuesday.
Oxford and Corner Market Aces starter Matt Prosper matched each other pitch for pitch in twin-masterful efforts before Jeff Gillam’s single in the bottom of the eight inning settled matters and gave the Monarchs a 3-2 win in Game 2 of the Corner Brook Molson Senior Baseball League semifinal series at Jubilee Field.
The best-of-five series is now knotted at 1-1.
The decisive play came after Jon Wheeler reached base on an error to start the inning and was advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Sean Mitchell. After Stephen Shepherd was intentionally walked, Gillam, who was injured on a slide into second earlier in the game, blooped a single to the right side to score Wheeler for the winning run.
The turn of events came after the Aces had a glorious chance to take the lead in the top of the frame with the bases loaded and two outs. Oxford struck out Glen Seaborn to end the rally and set the stage for Gillam’s walk-off single.
“Absolutely well played game that could have went either way, we were just lucky enough to have last whacks,” Oxford said following the game. “Gilly had to fight through a bad leg there but he came up with a clutch hit. I was pretty excited ...I might have been the first one on the field.”
The hard-throwing right hander gave credit to the Aces for making life difficult for him in the affair and he admitted he wouldn’t have been able to take the mound if a ninth inning was required.
Looking ahead to the rest of the series, Oxford said the win gives his team confidence and perhaps more importantly, plants a seed of doubt in the minds of last year’s defending champs.
“We’re back in it and they know we can beat them now,” he said. “Maybe it puts a little pressure on them but we’re taking absolutely nothing for granted.”
Even in defeat, Aces designated hitter Jeff Sheppard could only tip his hat to work of Prosper and Oxford in the game.
“Both of them threw gems and it just game down to the very last hit,” Sheppard said. “That’s the closest ball game I’ve seen in a long time. You can’t not like that ball game.”
Now knee deep in a best-of-three series, Sheppard took solace in the fact that the Aces have some more firepower to deploy from the mound Thursday in Game 3.
“We’re going to have one of our aces throwing, I’m pretty sure it will be (Brian Bennett) or (Michael Tavenor) and we’ll be ready for Thursday for sure,” he said. “We need to get some baserunners and be more aggressive at the plate.”
