It was a bit of the good and a bit of the bad for the Moose Jaw Canucks in the Sask Premier Baseball League 18U AAA division on Saturday.
Facing the Sask Five Giants in a doubleheader at Ross Wells Park, the Canucks would open the day with a 9-3 victory before dropping a 15-3 decision in the rematch.
The Canucks are now 2-12 on the SPBL season and are back in action Tuesday when they travel to Regina to face the White Butte Broncos.
Canucks 9, Sask Five 3
After so many games where the Canucks simply couldn’t catch a break, things finally went right on Saturday morning at Ross Wells.
Moose Jaw built a 5-0 lead through three innings and kept up the pressure, scoring at least one run in every frame the rest of the way to finish off their commanding win.
Every player had at least a hit, with Owen Varjassy going 3-for-4 with a run and two runs batted in while hitting eighth in the line-up. Ty Reid also had a solid game, going 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBI, and despite all their offence, Nathan Pisio had their lone hit for extra bases, that being a double.
Noah Thul also crossed the plate twice.
Owen Csada turned in a stellar showing on the mound with the Canucks’ first quality start of the season. He’d allow three runs, one earned, on four hits while striking out seven and walking five over six innings. Nathan McDougall closed things out with a scoreless seventh.
Sask Five 15, Canucks 3
Errors were a major difference in game two, as the Canucks would commit six defensive miscues and allow six unearned runs in the tough loss.
Sask Five got things going quickly with four in the first inning before extending their lead to 8-3 through three. A five-spot in the sixth would invoke the mercy rule after six innings.
Keaton Hillmer led the offence with a 2-for-3, one run scored showing, while Varjassy had another pair of hits.
Caleb Newkirk got the start and allowed four runs on three hits in an inning before Thul allowed four runs on four hits over the next two frames. Cameron Beisal stopped the bleeding a bit by allowing a pair of runs in two innings of work, but Reid was only able to get a single out in the sixth, allowing the aforementioned five runs. Varjassy got the last two outs and allowed a hit.
