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Brewers, Leafs preview playoffs

Written By JAKE COURTEPATTE

If Sunday's matchup between the Bolton Brewers and Ivy Leafs is any indication, this year's North Dufferin playoffs could get interesting.

Two of the AA league's top three teams met in Ivy for the first time this season, where an explosive start led to a late-game pitching battle in a 7 – 5 win for Ivy.

With Tyler Hawkins on the mound for the Brewers, the high-powered Leaf bats rattled off five straight hits to take a 6 – 0 lead by the bottom of the first inning, thanks in part to a pair of two-run home runs from Brett Elliott and Josh Henson.

Bolton responded with a four-run inning of their own in the top of the second, stringing together a group of singles to bring them within two.

After giving up a solo home run in the bottom half of the inning, Hawkins settled in for three-straight outs to close out his day after two.

From there it became a pitching battle between reliever Andrew White and Ivy's Brad Grieveson, giving up a combined five hits through seven innings to close out the game.

Brett Chater, the league's top hitter with an astonishing .517 batting average, had his seventeenth multi-hit game of the season.

Ivy also won the only other matchup of the year between the two powerhouse squads, a 6 – 4 game on Bolton's home turf in early July.

Closing out their season schedule with three games in two days thanks to a number of rain delays, Bolton had opened their Sunday by cruising to a 12 – 1 win over the Barrie Angels, who were already eliminated from playoff contention.

Nick Pattinaro was on the mound for a solid seven innings of work, while Chris Fafalios picked up his fifth home run of the season.

Chater, Fafalios, Carter Burnside, Greg Keenan, and Keegan Murphey also added doubles in a 14-hit outing.

With only a few games left in the league's regular season schedule, Bolton will face either the Midland Mariners or Ivy Rangers in the postseason's opening round, each team needing one more game to close out their schedule.

The Leafs take the title as regular season champions with just one loss under their belt through 26 games, while the New Lowell Knights will finish two points up on the Brewers for second place.

Playoff schedules will be released later this week following a league meeting on Wednesday.

For stats, schedules, and more information, visit www.ndbl.ca.

Post date: 2018-08-02 11:49:07
Post date GMT: 2018-08-02 15:49:07
Post modified date: 2018-08-02 11:49:07
Post modified date GMT: 2018-08-02 15:49:07