Halton Jaguars 13 Glasgow Stars 7
AN influx of new players including starting pitcher Cameron Muir made the Jaguars work very hard in the first few innings at Lanark Racecourse last Sunday.
In the early stages the Jags dug in and held on for five innings behind solid pitching by Halton's Chris Hartley who, after allowing six runs in the first three innings, settled the Stars down and held them scoreless in the fourth to seventh.
The Jags, having got the hang of Muir, embarked on a run fest which saw 13 Halton players come to the plate and 10 runs scored.
Muir and the Stars' defence were aghast at the change around and during this one inning the Jags hit two singles, two doubles, earned five walks and to cap it all shortstop Bob Cherneskie batted himself in, in the park, running all bases and beating the throw before the Stars got the ball home.
The scoring slowed as Stars reliever Alan Hebden came to the mound and the Jags were scoreless in the seventh. With one out in the top of the eighth Jags centre fielder Colin Walton reached on a drag bunt and scored on a passed ball.
Cherneskie singled and scored on Danny Lloyd's single to take the Halton total to 13.
A minor Stars rally in the bottom of the eighth scored one but the Jags were not done as they put another four on the board in the top of the ninth before heavy rain set in and the game was called after two rain delays.
With the score reverting to that at the end of the last completed inning the Jags recorded their ninth win of the season beating the Stars 13-7 and maintaining their winning streak.
Notable for Halton was Chris Hartley who pitched the whole game for the Jags, giving up only seven runs in eight innings of work.
Neither Chris Taggart nor Rob Mills were needed to relieve.
Next week the Jaguars take on the Bolton Brewers in a double header at Bolton where Rob Mills and Nick Bustin get the game starts.
