Bolton Brewers capture NDBL pennant with dramatic 12-11 win over Owen Sound Baysox

By Jim Stewart

The Bolton Brewers' recipe for success has been a simple one this season: use big innings to bludgeon and subdue their opponents.  

Monday night in Owen Sound was no exception as the powerhouse Brewers exploded for eight runs in the sixth inning during their regular season finale.

Home runs by Chris Fafalios and Jack Larmer, a game-winning hit by player-coach Mike Wallace, and a 156-pitch CG performance by Matteo Struthers helped Bolton secure a 12-11 win over the second-place Baysox and the NDBL pennant.

After dropping a 9-5 decision to the Padres in Creemore on Sunday, the Brewers were faced with a must-win scenario in Owen Sound to secure the top seed for the playoffs. 

Bolton Head Coach Mike Wallace, whose top of the seventh RBI single provided the margin of victory, commented on the wild eight-run outburst in Owen Sound.

“It was long overdue. [Baysox starter] Nate Kramer is a tremendous pitcher, but we started making some solid contact against him in the sixth. The quality of pitching we've been facing lately has been really good and it's helping us prepare for the playoffs.”

Coach Wallace applauded the 156-pitch Herculean performance of his starter Matteo Stothers whose complete game W improved his record to 5-3.

“He's a workhorse.  We spoke about how he was doing in the fifth inning and Matteo told me he felt fine. He had a lot of adrenaline running as a young kid after we scored eight and he wanted to finish the game. We did a mound visit when things got close at the bottom of the seventh to give Matteo and the infield a bit of a breather. He took it from there. I know he was enjoying the big crowd of over 250 fans on a Monday night. The Baysox did a great job to promote the game.”

The Brewers' player-coach made a noteworthy change to the Brewers' batting lineup on Monday. 

Coach Wallace inserted hot-hitting Carter Burnside into the two-spot between the season-long 1-2 punch of Brett Chater and Ben Sterritt.

“It lengthened the lineup. Carter's been incredibly hot. Putting Carter behind Chater and in front of Sterritt can be a pitcher's nightmare. Chris Fafalios's home run out of the five-spot and Jack Larmer's home run out of the seven-spot made us really powerful tonight. It was a complete game, total team effort.”

Falfalios and Sterritt paced the Brewers' potent offence with three RBI and two hits each. Burnside stayed red hot down the stretch by collecting more two hits and two RBI.

The dramatic victory in Owen Sound improved the Brewers' record to 19-5-0 to finish 2 points ahead of the much-improved Baysox (17-5-2).

It also set up a first round best-of-five playoff series with eighth-place Orillia.

Coach Wallace delineated the keys to a series victory versus the Majors:  “They played us pretty tough, especially at the end of the season.  We need to concentrate on hitting the ball. We'll need to create some big innings and take really full at-bats.”

The Brewers travel to Orillia to play Game 1 on Tuesday night. Bolton hosts the Majors (9-14-1) for Game 2 at North Hill Park on Thursday night. First pitch will be 8.45 p.m. —a later start than usual with the Caledon Nationals hosting the YSBA playoffs this week at North Hill.