The St. John’s-based Galway Hitmen opened their bid for another Canadian men’s fastpitch championship with a bang Wednesday in Grand Prairie, Alta., beating the Elmira Expos of Ontario 11-1 in their opening game of the national tournament before besting the Saskatoon Angels 9-2 in a late-night contest
The Hitmen, who have won six of the last seven Canadian men’s titles, got five homers in the game against Elmira, shortened to five innings due to application of the seven-run mercy rule. Brothers Blair and Kyle Ezekiel, Stephen Mullaley, Jason Hill and Ryan Kirk delivered the shots, with Mullaley driving in three runs, and Hill, Kirk and Kyle Ezekiel two each.
Saskatoon native Jeff Farion pitched the win, allowing just two hits and a walk while striking out nine.
Farion, a 39-year-old veteran of the ISC tournament circuit and international play, was added to the Hitmen roster as a permitted out-of-province pickup after it was learned ace hurler Sean Cleary would not be going to Grande Prairie.
Cleary, who earned MVP honours in the provincial men’s championship which concluded Monday in St. John’s, is unavailable for the men’s nationals due to family and work issues.
“After all Sean Cleary has done for this team over the years, you have to respect his situation, especially knowing that he’s been playing all over the continent this summer,” said Hitmen head coach Mark Dwyer.
Cleary is listed on the Galway roster in case he can make it to Alberta later in the tourney.
“But really, we’re not expecting Sean to be here,” added Dwyer. “So we will just go out and win it for him and we certainly have the team that can do it.”
Besides Farion, the Hitmen’s pitching staff includes Hill, Colin Walsh, Blair Ezekiel and Nick Pittman, all returnees from the team that won the 2018 title in St. Croix, N.S.
In all, a dozen players from last year’s Galway roster are in Grande Prairie this year.
It was Hill who got the decision in the nightcap victory against Saskatoon, scattering six hits, while walking just one Angel and striking out five.
And even though the Newfoundland team didn't have any home runs in this one, — abbreviated to six innings by virtue of the mercy rule — they made the most of their nine hits, augmented by eight walks.
The Ezekiel brothers delivered big offensive contributions, with Blair driving in three runs while Kyle and third brother Brad both reached base three teams, in each case with a hit and two walks.
Walsh scored twice and added two RBIs for the Hitmen, while Justin Gill also scored two runs.
The Hitmen take on the Irma, Alta,., Tigers and Big Guy Lake, B.C., Kings today before concluding their round-robin schedule on Friday, when they face the Bulyea, Sask., Rustlers and East Hants Mastodons from Nova Scotia.
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Galway Hitmen roster
Players Shane Boland, Bryan Clarke, Daniel Dalton, Blair Ezekiel, Brad Ezekiel, Kyle Ezekiel, Jeff Farion, Justin Gill, Jason Hill, Peter Kavanagh, Ryan Kirk, Stephen Mullaley, Nick Pittman, Jordan Pomeroy and Colin Walsh; head coach Mark Dwyer, assistant coaches Eddy McDonald, Sean Cadigan and Brian Roche, and Danny Williams (team sponsor)
Twitter: @telysports
