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Buitenhuis controls A’’s
By Reuben Villagracia
Sunday, August 26, 2007

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Jay Buitenhuis of the Boston Pizza Red Sox throws to the plate during Thunder Bay senior baseball playoff action on Sunday. (Jamie Smith/The Chronicle-Journal)

Jay Buitenhuis wasn‘t sure what felt like the higher number; his pitch count or the number of times he‘s shared the field against Brad Crocker.
Safe to say, the veteran Boston Pizza Red Sox hurler experienced a bit of both Sunday afternoon and came out on top, allowing four hits against Crocker‘s Moxie‘s Athletics over seven innings to secure a 3-1 win for his team in Game 1 of their best-of-seven Thunder Bay senior baseball semifinal.
“We went away to school years ago, like, 12 years ago. There‘s always been a pretty intense, but friendly, rivalry between the two of us,” said the 32-year-old Buitenhuis after throwing 108 pitches. “He‘s a great pitcher and when you see him on the mound you know you have to play a solid ball game.”
Crocker, the unofficial playoff MVP who carried the A‘s to the championship last fall, also tossed 108 pitches.
Buitenhuis and his defence found their groove and controlled the A‘s from the fourth inning on. After Joe Valente of Moxie‘s sent home his brother, Jon, on a sacrifice fly to open the scoring, the Red Sox struck in the top of the fourth on a deep Lincoln Galbraith single that plated Pat Shoppoff.
In the fifth, Dave Janhunen scrambled the A‘s with a third-base steal and trotted home when Mitch Joyce ripped a single to right field.
Buitenhuis, meanwhile, battled several long at-bats and used new tricks one learns when crossing the other side of 30.
“You‘ve got to,” he said. “I‘ve lost a bit off my fastball a few years ago so you‘ve got to locate your ball which I didn‘t always do tonight. A lot of mixing up and changing pace and I was able to keep them off balance.”
Even when the A‘s batters outwaited Buitenhuis, they were burned between the pads. Andy Armitage drew a walk in the bottom of the seventh and Jon Valente doubled to left field that wasn‘t deep enough. Outfielder Andrew Agombar scooped and gunned the ball to Pat Shoppoff at third base for the game-ending tag on Armitage.
Galbraith went 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI. Jon Valente led the Athletics with two hits.
Game 2 of the series, which had been postponed twice due to rain last week, goes tonight at Baseball Central. Buitenhuis is confident his third-seeded club still has some arms to spare despite losing pitchers Dan Grant and Adam Roos as the regular season winded down.
“We‘re a little bit thin, but we‘ve got enough to play,” Buitenhuis, whose Red Sox club is looking for its first TBSBA title since 1984.
In the other semifinal, the Northwest Slam Renegades beat the Friend‘s Orioles 11-5 to take a 2-1 series lead. The Slam used an eight-run fourth to blow the game open as Orioles pitchers Andrew Hackner and Aaron Stewart combined to allow four hits and five walks.
Eric Brown, playing in his final game for the Renegades before suiting up for the University of British Columbia, struck out six while allowing five hits for the complete-game victory.
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