Winless Streak Reaches Three Games

The new-look Sentinel Devils surprised the York Diamonds with a come-from behind 9-8 victory on Sunday night at Sentinel Park. A bases loaded sacrifice fly by James Fensom brought home the winning run off York reliever Jeff Hofstetter. Fensom and Glenn Edwards hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning to put the Devils up 3-1. Diamonds' starter Rob Hofstetter then settled in and pitched well before giving way to newcomer Jeremy Service in the fifth. Service worked out of a jam to end the fifth but struggled with his control in the 6th and gave way to to Jeff Hofstetter who also had a hard time finding the plate.
Devils starter John Edwards pitched well into the third inning before giving up a solo home run to Neil Parekh to cut the Devils lead to 4-2. In the next inning, reliever Jamal Vanderpool gave up a Sentinel Park grand slam to Eric Foley, on a rotine fly ball that just cleared the fence. The Devils battled back to tie things at 7 entering the final frame.

Paul Freeman led off the 7th with a basehit and was sacrificed to second by Jeremy Service. One out later, Jeff Hofstetter's fly ball got lost in the twilight and Freeman scored the go-ahead run, which ultimately set the stage for the Devils winning rally in the bottom of the inning.

The Diamonds were led by Jeff and Rob Hofstetter with 2 hits apiece and two spectacular defensive plays by younger brother Brian...the first as he leapt and crashed into the centre field wall to rob Zak Davidson of extra bases and the second a perfect strike to Neil Parekh who then fired to Jason Stober to erase Mike Tigani trying to stretch a single into a double.

The Devils were led by relief pitcher, Jon Hale, who picked up his first big league win and Jamie Bennett and Zak Davidson, who reached base a combined 5 times. Gari and Glenn Edwards also had 2 hits each.

Manager Paul Freeman was not a happy camper as he met the media in his bulletproof car just outside the Jane/Finch corridor...here are his cleaned-up for tv comments "I have to give credit to Dave Quennell and Sentinel. Their defense was much improved tonight and they were very patient at the plate and made our guys work. As upset as I am with the loss, I felt good for their players, who stuck it out over the years and they definitely deserved the win tonight. As for us, we played ok, we didn't hit tremendously well again and our relievers' control was not great but it was both of their first times on the mound this year so it's understandable. We had a lot of guys away tonight and that really hurt us. Jason Rausch agreed to play and made 2 nice fielding plays but he shouldn't have had to be put in that position of playing before he was really ready. I thank Jeremy for sucking it up and pitching tonight, but he probably could have used a couple of more bullpen sessions before throwing him to the wolves. Brian Hofstetter was excellent in the outfield today and Rob contiues to mash the ball." Freeman hinted that an an overhaul of the batting order would be in order for Thursday night, hinting that longtime #2 man Rudy Naraine would return to the leadoff spot and Rob Hofstetter would take over the cleanup duties for the time being. Eric Foley will take to the mound for his third start of the season in a rematch vs the Mississauga A's. The first 10 fans will get to scream obscenities at the Diamonds until they finally win a damn game. BP starts at 6:15 on the field and ready to go.

Date: May 16, 2004     Time: 7:30pm      Venue: Sentinel Park