The Moose Jaw Canucks might not have gotten off to the best start as hosts of the Moose Jaw 18U AAA baseball tournament this past weekend, but it’s how you finish that matters.
The Canucks dropped a 6-2 decision to the Medicine Hat Monarchs in their opening game but strung together three straight wins the rest of the way, eventually taking a 5-4 victory over the Brandon Marlins on Saturday afternoon to land in third place overall.
Along the way, the Canucks rolled to a 17-3 win over the Sherwood Park Athletics before sneaking past the Post 37 Williston Keybirds in their final round robin game.
Medicine Hat 6, Moose Jaw 2
The Monarchs didn’t have any big innings but just steadily chipped away with single runs in each of the first four innings while turning in a solid defensive performance.
The Canucks scored both their runs in the first but managed only two hits on the day, with Gerritt Gulutzan and Grier Peterson doing the honours. Cam Beisal and Tate Macdairmid scored the two runs.
Max Simmons got the start and allowed four runs, three earned, on five hits over 3 ⅔ innings before Owen Varjassy finished things off, surrendering two runs on five hits over the final 2 ⅓.
Moose Jaw 17, Sherwood Park 3
Moose Jaw wasted little time getting things going in their first game Saturday.
Six runs in the second inning, another seven in the third, and that was pretty much all she wrote.
Caleb Newkirk led the offence, hitting a two-run home run in the third inning and finishing 3-for-4 with a run scored and five runs batted in. Gulutzan, Keaton Hillmer and Noah Thul all crossed the plate three times, with Thul going 2-for-2 and also knocking in a pair. Macdairmid was 2-for-2 with a pair of runs, Max Simmons went 2-for-2 with two runs and two RBI.
All that offence took the pressure off Ty Reid on the mound, and he’d make the most of it, scattering six hits and allowing a pair of earned runs over four innings. Beisal tossed the fifth and picked up a strikeout.
Moose Jaw 1, Williston 0
The Canucks enjoyed one of their best pitching performances of the season against their U.S. competition, with Owen Csada and Nathan McDougall combining to toss a two hitter.
Csada got the start and went five innings, holding Williston to a single hit and striking out nine while walking only three. McDougall was just as effective in finishing things off, giving up a hit and striking out a pair over the final two innings.
Moose Jaw scored the game’s only run in the second when Newkirk hit a lead-off triple and later scored on a Simmons sacrifice fly.
Moose Jaw 5, Brandon 4
The Canucks’ 2-1 record was good enough to send them into the third-place game, and they’d build a 5-2 lead through four innings against the Marlins before holding on for the one-run win.
Simmons led the offence with a 3-for-3 showing that included a run and RBI, while Peterson was 2-for-3 and also crossed the plate. Beisal was 1-for-2 with two walks, a run and an RBI.
Moose Jaw led 2-0 after the first before Brandon tied things up in the third, but the Canucks put up three in the fourth to re-take control of the game.
Newkirk got the start and allowed a pair of runs, neither earned, on three hits over four innings before giving way to Nathan Pisio, who allowed a single earned run on two hits over the next two innings. Hillmer finished things off with a scoreless seventh.
