Silver Bullets win in a walk

AMHERST - Last night it was the Amherst Dooly's Coors Light Silver Bullets Matt Keddy on the mound against the Maccan Royals' Mark Brine and Brad Murray in Nova Scotia Intermediate Baseball League action at Robb's Centennial Complex.
The sun was shining, the wind was calm, the temperature was perfect and a 12-1 win over the Royals in five innings of play only made the night that much better for Dooly's.
"Our experience was a big factor tonight, as the guys were very patient against a crafty left-hander," said Dooly's manager Barry Anderson when talking about Brine.
Patience was a definite virtue as Royals pitchers allowed the Bullets to walk nine times.
And when they did hit they made it count, as when Shane O'Byrne belted a three-run homer.
"We gave the Bullets too many free passes tonight and that came back to haunt us." said Royals manager Darren Collins.
"When you allow the other team to score 12 runs on three hits, then you're not doing what you should be doing defensively. The Bullets capitalized on our mistakes and that's what a good team does."
It was in the third inning where the Bullets really capitalized on the Royals miscues, scoring eight runs in the inning.
In five innings Keddy gave up one unearned run, allowed two hits, walked one and struck out three.
In four innings of action Brine and Murray gave up three hits and nine walks and hit three batters.
The Royals had a total of eight errors.
Besides O"Byrne's three run homer, Mike Keddy and Corey Blenkhorn each had singles.
Hitting for the Royals was Jeff Hoeg and Travis Davis with one single each.
Collins hopes that the next time the two teams meet, the Royals will be better prepared.
"We have a young team and we'll only get better as the season progresses and hopefully we'll statr making the other teams earn their runs," he said.
"But we have four 16-year-olds on our team and they're playing against guys who are 20 and 30 years old, so it's all a learning experience for them and for me."
On Sunday, the Silver Bullets travel to Windsor to take on the Knights, while the Royals will host the Truro Giants. Game time for both doubleheaders is 1 p.m.

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