Welcome to the official site of the Thornhill Redbirds Baseball Team. The Redbirds are a senior mens team that play in the Greater Toronto Baseball League (GTBL), a 'AAA' level baseball league featuring eight teams throughout the Greater Toronto Area.
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Redbirds Drop Opener to White Sox
May 11, 2012
The Redbirds travelled to Centennial Park on Thursday night to take on the Martingrove White Sox in the season opener for both clubs. Veteran lefty Ian Okorofsky would get the starting day assignment for the Redbirds coming off a 2011 campaign in which he led the team in innings pitched and had a record of 1-3 with 1 save. For Martingrove it was the veteran right-hander Marcus Belardi who took to the hill.
The Birds lead off the top of the first with a single and a walk by Erik Brown and Peter Samonas. After two called third strikes by the third and fourth batters, third baseman Peter Westlake came through with a clutch single to cash in Brown. In the top of the 2nd the Birds struck again after a single and a stolen base by Oren Gal, and then an RBI single by Calvin Mui. Martingrove responded in the bottom of the frame with a solo shot coming off the bat of catcher Chris Micolino, followed by a pair of singles that would score the tying run.
Martingrove would tack on two more runs in the bottom of the 4th off Nick Masci who was in for relief of Okorofsky. Then third baseman Dennis Hucal would belt the second solo shot of the night for the Sox in the bottom of the 7th to make it a 5-2 game for the home side.
The Redbirds would mount a comeback in the top of the 8th off relief pitcher Joe Callaghan, as Westlake came through again with a 2 RBI single up the middle. Westlake would later make it to third base with 2 outs, at which point Martingrove called to the pen for the hard throwing righty Pat Veccharelli. On the first pitch after the switch, Veccharelli would throw a wild pitch into the dirt. Alertly, Westlake broke for home trying to score the tying run, but would be called out at the plate on a controversial decision by the home plate umpire. Team field manager Jordan Stroll would argue the call to no avail as he was subsequently ejected from the game. The Redbirds managed to get the tying run into scoring position again in the bottom of the 9th but would fall short as Veccharelli got the final out of the game off a hard line drive by Samons to second base.
At the plate Redbird hitters would strikeout looking a total of eight times on what was considered to be a very liberal strike zone by the home plate umpire. Peter Samonas, Oren Gal and Peter Westlake were all 2-4 on the night, while Westlake added 3 RBI’s as well. The Redbirds travel to Stan Wadlow Park on Monday May 14th to take on the East York Bulldogs for game two of the season. Game time is scheduled for 7:30pm.
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