
The 2008 SNL All Star Game would prove to be a terrific advert for Scottish baseball with some great defense, suffocating pitching and hard-nosed baserunning on show. In the end, it would be the West squad that would claim the spoils with a 4-3 win, the winning run scored by George Coulter (GBA) on a squeeze play and play-at-the plate with one out in the bottom of the 9th.
Featuring the best players drawn from the four clubs in the Scottish National League – the Edinburgh Devils, Edinburgh Eagles, Glasgow Baseball Association and Strathclyde Falcons – the East and West squads were on top form and would give managers and Team Scotland skippers Jason Derr and Dougie Robertson plenty of reasons to be excited about the upcoming international team’s matches, such was the high level of play on show.
It would be the East who would tally first, taking a 2 run lead in to the bottom of the 7th before starting pitcher Derr would tire and see the West take a 3-2 lead. A base hit in the top of the 8th would see the East tie things up again and send the game in to the 9th tied at 3.
The East would push a runner up to 2nd with 2 out and a titanic battle ensued between Juan Suarez (Eagles) and Mark Quinn (GBA) which went to 10 pitches before Quinn would strike Suarez out, stranding the potential go-ahead run for the visitors. The West would then seize their opportunity and Joe Ainsworth would come up with the key hit to drive in Coulter.
After the game winning manager Dougie Robertson was presented with the All-Star Game trophy, which was last presented back in 1993, another sign that baseball north of the border is on the rise…