Senior Brewers bounced from playoffs

September 7, 2016 · 0 Comments

By Jake Courtepatte
The Bolton Brewers will have to wait another year to try to see action in the Greater Toronto Baseball League’s final four weekend.
Bolton’s AAA club was ousted in the opening round of the playoffs by the Thornhill Reds, wrapping up with game three last week. After pulling out a surprise 9-7 victory over the favoured Reds days earlier in game two, the final game of the series was a 10-0 blowout in seven innings.
Rookie Josh Appel pitched his second complete game of the series for the Reds, also earning the win in the opening match. He allowed Bolton just two hits, while striking out seven Brewers batters.
Sean Sutton and Jacob Hillier provided two extra-base hits early for the Reds to take a quick 5-0 lead from which Bolton could never recover, especially with the absence of heavy hitter Brett Chater in the lineup.
Nick Boyd was on the mound for the loss for Bolton.
The 2016 season was the second season of full-time AAA ball for the Bolton club, having graduated from the AA North Dufferin Baseball League after 2014. They are yet to make it past the first round, falling in two games to the Newmarket Hawks last year.
They amassed an almost identical regular season record to their stat line in 2015, earning one less win this year with a 6-19-0 record and again finishing in sixth place.
The Pickering Red Sox also defeated Newmarket in game three of their series to round out the final four, with both Thornhill and Pickering joining the Leaside Leafs and East York Bulldogs.
Pickering was the location over the weekend for the top four teams to battle it out, with the winner earning a berth in the provincial championships. The hometown Red Sox went 2-0 Saturday, needing just one win to clinch the title Sunday in a doubleheader with Thornhill.
After Thornhill took game one 17-6, the scorching heat claimed two umpires as heat stroke victims and the final game was postponed. Action will resume later this week.
To continue following the postseason action, visit www.gtbl.ca

Nick Boyd throws out a pitch at North Hill Park in Bolton. Boyd and the Bolton Brewers were knocked out of the first round of the Greater Toronto Baseball League playoffs last week by the Thornhill Reds.
Photo by Jake Courtepatte