Valley Sports ReportCANTON — Sayre led early in a back-and-forth affair, but an error in the eighth inning proved costly as Canton pulled out the season-opening, 8-7, win here Tuesday afternoon in NTL baseball action.
"Tonight was a back-and-forth game," said Sayre coach Todd Green. "It was a better game than last year for our season-opener — and different in regards of teams and weather."
Canton won last year's match-up, 12-4, in 37-degree temperatures at Riverside Park.
Overall, Green was pleased with his team's performance.
"We had some mental errors at the plate tonight, with watching third strikes go by, and not taking the bats off our shoulders.
"We had some fielding breakdowns, but not a ton of excess throwing the ball around for no reason," he said.
"The team played well for the first time on the field this season," added Green. "Only hoping to improve moving forward with fundamentals and quality of play."
The Redskins took a quick 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning.
Senior Jamier Kole led off the game with a single, and stole second. With one out, senior Nick Pellicano walked, and junior Karter Green was intentionally walked to load the bases.
With two outs, Kole scored on a passed ball. After a walk to senior David Hall re-loaded the bases, a Canton error plated a pair of Redskins base-runners to make it 3-0.
The Warriors scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the first, but Green avoided further damage with a pair of strikeout to leave the bases loaded.
One-out singles by Kole and senior Theo Molina, and a walk to Pellicano loaded the bases for the Redskins in the top of the second. After Green was hit by a pitch to force home one run, freshman Riley McGaughey walked to force home another runner and make it 5-2.
A line drive off the bat of senior David Hall turned into a double play to end the inning.
Canton once again answered with two runs in the bottom of the second to trim the deficit to 5-4.
Sophomore Shane Strickland reached second base on an error to lead off the top of the third, stole third base and scored on a wild pitch to give Sayre a 6-4 lead.
The Warriors scored one run in the fourth inning, and two more in the fifth to take a 7-6, but Sayre answered in the top of the sixth to tie the game.
With one out, Pellicano and Green stroked singles, and McGaughey walked to load the bases. Moments later, Pellicano scampered home on a wild pitch to make it 7-7, but the Redskins could not muster any further damage.
Neither team did anything at the plate until the home half of the eighth inning.
Ben Fitch walked to lead off the Canton eighth, stole second, then took third on a passed ball, and scored when the throw to third bounced into left field.
Kole singled twice, scored two runs, and stole two bases to lead Sayre's seven-hit attack, while Green singled, scored one run, and drove in one run, and Pellicano singled and scored two runs.
Molina and Strickland each singled and scored one run for Sayre, while sophomore Jordan Brown added a single, and McGaughey had one RBI.
Green allowed four runs on five hits, while striking out six and walking two in three innings for the Redskins, while Strickland allowed three runs — two earned — on four hits, while striking out five and walking none in four innings of relief.
Kole was tagged with the loss.
Sayre returns to action next Tuesday when it hosts Williamson.
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PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING.
