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Richard O‘Brien Chronicle Staff A late start doesn‘t necessarily lead to a late finish and Waterloo Tigers proved this Sunday night at Bechtel Park with a 6â€"4 win over Brantford Red Sox. The night before, Tigers had given up three runs in the eighth inning in a 7â€"4 loss to St. Thomas Elgins. The weekend ended with Tigers holding an 8â€"21 record that left them tied with London Majors for the last playoff spot in the Hame! division. Due to a late finish to an afternoon doubleheader in which Waterloo‘s junior Expos needed 13 innings to beat Stratford in the second game, Tigers and Red Sox were about 25 minutes late in starting. â€" But just when the game threatened to go into extra innings with the score tied 4â€"4 in the ninth, Tigers catcher Dave Thrower made short work of the Red Sox with a ground rule double that scored Kevin Mitchell and Brad tevens. Setting the stage for Thrower‘s gameâ€"winning hit was a leadoff walk by Mitchell in a pinchâ€"hitting role. Then Stevens was safe on an error by first baseman Dave Dix ‘"I just decided at the start of the inning that if we were going to do it we were going to do it now," said &e 18â€" yearâ€"old McGraw, who is in his third year with Exfos Richard O‘Brien Chronicle Staff And in the second game of Sunday afternoon‘s Interâ€"County Junior Baseball League doubleheader with Stratford, he started as DH and in the 10th inning took over as relief pitcher from starter lan Buglass with the score tied 1â€"1 in a game that turned into a 13â€"inning marathon with Expos winning 2â€"1. Expos had won the first game 3â€"2. The move paid off for field manager Dan Young as McGraw won the game with both his pitching and his bat as he held Stratford scoreless until he singled in the bottom of the .13th to score Tim Gowland from second base. Gowland had singled and advanced on a bunt by Brad Stevens. You can tell} what Waterloo Expos‘ Kevin McGraw is there for by the position he plays. + He‘s either catcher or designated hitter and if he‘s DH it means he could be called upon to pitch in a relief role. McGraw tugs Expos to victory It‘s never too late for Tigers Umpire Bruce Hunking watches as YÂ¥ves Tessier of the Waterioo Expos slides safely into home plate to score a run on a sacrifice fly by Kevin McGraw in opening game of Thrower, who came to the Tigers from Welland and has now piayed about 10 games with the team, expected and got a fastball from reliever Chris Sheehan, who had just taken over on the mound from starter J.P. Groulx. and the runners advanced on Jody Pfaff‘s bunt. ‘"‘I expected a fastball because he had to come in with a strike," Thrower said of the situation with the count at Thrower‘s long hit to right centre field proved hard to follow in Bechtel Park‘s dark outfield but he agreed that the baill had bounced over the fence for a ground rule double. 2 ‘"I thought it was a double," said Thrower. ‘"Some people thought it went over but it won the game and that‘s the main thing." ‘"It was nice to come in in the ninth and do that after Greg Yari pitched so well," said Drago. « Tigers got good pitching from starter Greg Yari, who gave up just five hits in eight innings. Then reliever Dave Drago struck out all three batters he faced in the ninth. It was Drago‘s first trip to the mound in about three weeks due to work committments. Expos had a chance to win in the 1ith when Tony Morrison, running for McGraw, reached third on East‘s single with two out. But Bob Taylor‘s grounder up the middle was slowed down when it hit the pitcher‘s mound and shortstop Gardiner made the force at second. One inning earlier, Greg Richardson had reached third for Stratford and attempted to score on a suicide squeeze with lefthanded batter Mike Gardiner attempting to lay down the bunt. But McGraw read the play and pitched wide so that catcher John East could make the tag at home plate. McGraw hit a fastball off Mike Jones, who went the distance for Stratford, and his hit curved in the wind frgm centre field to the gap in right centre. Stratford had runners in scoring position in three of the six extra innings, including the 13th when Corey Hartsburg ended up at second base when right fielder Mike Ruppe bobbled a difficult try at a catch on the run and Yves Tessier did likewise when the ball came in his direction off Ruppe. and has two more years of remaining eligibility. ‘‘We‘ve been playing a lot of oneâ€"run or twoâ€"run games This was a real pitcher‘s duel." doubleheader with Stratford. That‘s Stratford catcher Bill Matiech taking a throw from the outfi@ld. Richard O‘Brien photo WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY, JULY 23, 1986 â€" PAGE 29 Tony Yacobino put Tigers on the board with a oneâ€"run homer in the fourth inning after Sheehan had done the same for the Red Sox in the top of the fourth. â€" Red Sox tied the game in the eighth as Larry Ellins hit a twoâ€"run single before second baseman Yves Tessier allowed another run to score with a throwing error. Against St. Thomas, Tigers had two second inning runs as Brad Stevens and Jamie Fuilton hit backâ€"toâ€"back doubles and John McDade singled. In the seventh, Mitchell scored on Yacobino‘s sacrifice fly and Dan Arbic scored from first base on Tessier‘s single on a hitâ€"andâ€"run play. Tigers host Stratford Hillers Thursday at 8 in a rescheduled game and on Saturday they host Kitchener Panthers at 7. Sunday, they travel to St. Thomas to meet the Eigins at 7: 30. One of the players Drago fanned was designated hitter Gary Dix, who was ejected for his subsequent comments to home plate umpire John Wigle. _ â€" Tigers added three runs in the sixth as Todd Abernethy‘s twoâ€"run single was the highlight of the inâ€" Buck scored the winning run in the sixth, coming home from third on Taylor‘s ground ball. He also scored on an error in the second inning. Expos travel to Cambridge Thursday, then they‘re in St. Thomas Sunday for a doubleheader starting at 1. They host Stratford Tuesday at 8 at Bechtel Park. Stevens scored Expos first run when he came home on Taylor‘s fourth inning double. The early game also had its dramatics as Expos, who were trying to protect a 3â€"1 lead, loaded the bases with none out in the top of the seventh. But only one Stratford run scored as third baseman Kevin Buck executed a double play to ease the situation before Vince Dwyer hit a runâ€"scoring single. Expos‘ other run went to YÂ¥ves Tessier. He scored from third on a sacrifice fly by McGraw. ‘"‘That was as long as I can remember playing," said Young. "It was good defensive ball. It‘s really important for us to win three out of the next four to make sure we get a playoff spot." Expos improved their record to 10â€"13 with the wins on Sunday and that put them in a fourth place tie with Cambridge Bulldogs.