Lyons give Astros command of series

 Glencoe second baseman hits two three-run homers in a 14-0 shelling

 of St. Thomas for a 2-0 lead in the South Middlesex Men's Fastball final

 September 28, 2023

 

 

By Rob J. Ross 

GLENCOE, Ont. - Jeff Lyons has the Glencoe Astros in the driver's seat.

The second baseman hit two home runs and had seven RBIs, as the Astros scorched the St. Thomas Storm, 14-0, in five innings, taking game game of the South Middlesex Men's Fastball league final Wednesday.

Glencoe leads the best of five series, two games to none, with the opportunity to capture their first league title Friday.

"I felt good at the plate," Lyons said. "Complete reactionary. Something you do. Swing hard and hopefully connect. I got lucky. Close your eyes and swing and sometimes good things happen. I give credit to the guys in front of me who got on base and made my life a little bit easier.

"It's a good night."

Lyons batted three for three at the plate, with a walk, driving in seven runs and scoring three.

Marshall Kulich and Lyons both hit home runs putting the Astros up 5-0 in the second inning.

The Astros put away the Storm with a nine run fourth inning, including another three run shot from Lyons and capitalizing on five base on balls.

Meanwhile Astros' pitcher Taylor DeGraw threw a one-hitter over five innings, while striking out six batters.

Mark Coleman had a double for the Storm's only hit.

"Taylor has been awesome for us all year. Tonight he was spinning a dandy," Lyons said. "We got the bats going and things went our way. We'll see if we have the same luck and same tenacity on Friday."

Astros' leadoff man Adam Fletcher was two-for-three, plus a walk and scored three times. Steve Lyons had a double and a pair of walks and Calvin Ritchie, two singles.

Jeff Lyons is happy the Astros are up two games, but isn't popping champagne yet.

"It feels good, but still a long ways to go," Lyons said. "St. Thomas is a veteran team and they're a really good squad. The series is long from being over with those guys across the diamond."

St. Thomas was with out their top two pitchers, Ben Hodgins and Dan Beecroft.

"Down games to none and two total shellackings, but we just have to put them in our back pocket," Storm manager Tom Edie said. "One hit wasn't going to win us a game. I don't care if they got 20 runs. The bats fell silent and that's the bottom line. He (DeGraw) threw a one hitter, so I'll tip the hat to him."

Edie knows his players, many who were with the Storm when the team won the title in 2019, after rallying from down two games to none to beat Alvinston in the semifinals.

"There's no quit in these guys and we're going to come out and give it a good shot," Edie said. "We got a chance Friday to extend the series and push it to Monday (game four) and then see what happens. We'll see if we got the mettle to do that. We know what has to be done. It's a matter of whether we execute."

Game three is 8 p.m Friday at Fingal. Game four, if necessary is back in Glencoe.

Lyons, a teacher at Ekcoe Central school in Glencoe , is looking for his first league title, although has won on the National and international stage.

Back in August, Lyons brought home a silver medal with the Bear Creek Express from the International Softball Congress (ISC) world tournament.

Lyons was with the Appin A's in 2019 when they lost to St. Thomas in the South Middlesex final.

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