Cornhuskers have a chance to make the playoffs

July 9, 2014 · 0 Comments

By Jeff Doner
At the start of the season, the Nobleton Cornhuskers senior men’s baseball team set out with the goal of making the North Dufferin Baseball League playoffs.
With just six games left in the regular season, they have a solid chance of reaching that goal, currently sitting in seventh place with 16 points.
The Cornhuskers started off their weekend with a solid 4-0 win over the Clearview Orioles on Friday night, with Eric Mcloughin pitching a solid shutout six innings, before his brother Troy closed the Orioles out in the seventh.
“I got in there in the sixth and it was a close game throughout,” Troy said. “It was fun, but at the same time it was intense at the end, but we came out with the win, which was nice.”
However, the Cornhuskers wouldn’t fare so well two nights later in Bolton against the Dodgers.
Nobleton got out to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but Bolton struck back in the bottom half, tagging pitcher Mike Winters with two runs to take the lead.
Troy Mcloughin got things going for the offence in the second leading off with a single and then was brought home by Lance McCormick to again tie the game.
Bolton regained the lead in the third, but Troy again provided some punch at the plate, blasting his first home run of the season.
“It was good to get the first one of the year,” Troy said of his home run. “I’m surprised I got it here, but hopefully that kick-starts things because I’ve been a little slow at the plate lately.”
Mike Leclef followed that up with a ground rule double to centre field, who was then brought home by Mike Winters, to give the Cornhuskers a 5-4 lead.
However, with few options left for pitchers, the Cornhuskers got themselves in a bit of a bind when the Dodgers loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the fifth.
The Dodgers capitalized and scored three runs to hand the Cornhuskers an 8-5 loss.
“We were a little short-staffed today, which was tough because we had to use one of our pitchers that we rarely use and hasn’t pitched in a while,” Troy said post-game. “That ball took a hop in centre and it was tough to recover from there.”
The team will now try to refocus for this week with games against Midland and New Lowell, two teams ahead of them in the standings.
Troy thinks his team has a good shot at getting into the playoffs and making some noise.
“I think once we get a full team out we can maybe get on a roll,” he said. “We got a good win on Friday there and if we stay healthy and get on top of our pitching, we’ll be making the playoffs for sure.”
For schedules, stats and standings visit www.ndbl.ca.