Third-inning slam sends Canton to just its second loss of the season

April 19, 2010, 11:55 p.m.

  Canton's baseball team was just one strike -- one inch, really -- from escaping a pivotal jam in the third inning of Monday's KLAA cross-over game against Novi.

  However, a two-strike Kevin Delapaz pitch that teetered on the corner of the plate was called a ball, giving new life to Michael Kruse, who hammered the next pitch over the fence for a game-changing grand slam.

  Powered by the strong pitching of Adam Paulk, Novi went on to cruise to a 9-1 victory.

  The Chiefs slipped to 8-2 on the season and will travel to Westland John Glenn on Wednesday for a double-header against the Rockets.

  "It looked like Kevin made a nice pitch on the kids with two strikes, but he didn't get the call," said Canton coach Mark Blomshield. "We just couldn't get anything going with our bats the entire game."

  Canton led briefly, 1-0, in the second inning when Ben Staley doubled and scored on a Mark Main single. However, the Chiefs could muster just four more hits against Paulk.

  Two of the hits were doubles off the bat of junior shortstop Chris Perkovich, who has been swinging a torrid bat all spring.

  Delapaz's pitching line wasn't that bad considering four of the six runs he yielded were unearned. The senior southpaw gave up two earned runs on six hits while striking out three in five innings.

  Staley finished up on the mound for the Chiefs.

  Novi cushioned its lead to 6-1 with a pair of runs in the fifth before rounding out the scoring with three in the sixth.

  "Novi is a very good team, but we just didn't play as well as we have been," concluded Blomshield.