Tagged out.
Zack Dickson of the Mississauga Twins tags out Chris Nagorski of the Oshawa Dodgers during Intercounty Baseball League action Friday at the Meadowvale Sports Park.
Staff photo by Daniel Ho
The losses continue to mount for the Mississauga Twins and there’s no quick fix in sight.
The Twins took it on the chin again tonight, giving up 15 hits for the second night in a row, as they went down 10-2 to the Oshawa Dodgers at the Meadowvale North Sports Park.
“I’ve got no answers at this point,” manager Adeo Calcagni said after the loss to the Dodgers, Mississauga’s fourth setback in a row and 20th of the season against just seven wins.
Of more importance was that the Twins lost out on a chance to put a little more breathing room in the Intercounty Baseball League standings between themselves and the last-place Hamilton Thunderbirds, who were idle tonight.
Each game between now and the end of the month, when the IBL regular season comes to a close, becomes crucial for the Twins, who would rather finish in seventh place and face the Brantford Red Sox in the first round of post-season play.
“You can’t let these games slip away but let’s face it, we’re a young team that is up against seasoned teams every time we step on the field,” said Calcagni, who believes the Twins have to play .500 baseball for the remainder of the season in order to overhaul Kitchener for seventh place in the standings and face a possible playoff showdown with Brantford.
“The inexperience really shows some times,” said Calcagni. “We’ve got a good group of players, just no experience. Baseball is a simple game. See the ball, hit the ball. We complicate it.
“We’re looking for a pitch to try and generate a hit. You should be ready to swing at every pitch and hold off on the ones you don’t like. You’ve got to work the pitcher. But that comes with experience.”
The Mississauga hitting, which was the team’s trademark at the beginning of the season when the Twins won their first three games on the schedule, has fizzled out. They do hit the ball hard, but with little to show for their efforts. It was a similar story Thursday night in Barrie, where the Twins gave up 15 hits in a 9-3 loss.
As a result, Oshawa starter Greg Byron was able to breeze through eight innings tonight, scattering seven hits. He allowed two runs, struck out four batters and didn’t give up a walk.
Mike Bonanno started for the Twins. He and reliever Mike McGillivray worked a combined eight innings, giving up 15 hits and all 10 Oshawa runs.
Bonanno’s night came to an end with one out in the fifth when he gave up a solo home run to Mississaugan Peter Bako and then a single to third baseman Jordan Castaldo. Castaldo hit a solo homer off McGillivray in a five-run eighth inning for the Dodgers. That shot came after centre fielder Kofi Osei-Anning belted a three-run homer over the right field fence. The Dodgers sent nine men to the plate in the inning.
Newcomer Zack Dickson scored Mississauga’s first run in the first inning. He led off the inning with a single, stole second, went to third on a ground out and came home on Henry Duke’s sacrifice fly to right. That was it until the ninth inning when Jonathan Slattery came around to score on catcher Greg Densem’s single.
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