The Sask Five 18U AAA Giants split a pair of games during a doubleheader against the Regina Athletics at Mocon Baseball Diamonds, in Martensville, July 10.
Sask Five earned a 9-7 win in Game 1 but dropped a 12-9 decision in the following game.
In the first game, the Giants built a 6-1 lead after four innings but the Athletics, who are a talented team, didn’t back down and put pressure on the Giants which led to Regina pulling within in one run.
However, the Giants scored a couple of late runs to hold off the Athletics.
Brodie Guenther pitched into the seventh inning, earning the win for the Giants, which coach Jason Ryden was happy too see.
“He (Guenther) pitched really well. He’s pretty efficient and he got his 105 pitches in. Then Jaret Rowan came in and cleaned up for him, and one out is all he needed.”
In the second game of the doubleheader the Giants again built an early lead this time leading 4-1 after two innings.
The athletics benefited from a 7-run sixth inning to take a 12-5 lead. The giants ended up scoring five runs in the seventh but it was too little too late.
“We waited too long at the end of the second game to (potentially) get ahead,” said Ryden. “We had enough hits and we had enough timely at bats to pull ahead, but we just gave them too many (runs) as well. We could have been out of that inning where they scored all those runs, but we had two errors.”
Ryden expected the Athletics to work themselves back into the game, but even when the game was tied 5-5 going in the sixth inning, he still thought the Giants had a chance to win the game.
“They (Regina) clawed away at it and that’s what they’ll do. And when it was tied we thought we still had a good opportunity (to win the game) and it was just that one bad inning that blew up on us,” said Ryden.
As with the majority of their games as of late, the Giants battled the heat but that is something the team is prepared for.
Ryden said the players drink lots of water before and during the game to stay hydrated but the heat can still affect their game-play
“Being out there for too long, it does wear on you. Your mental focus gets lacked and that is where the errors happened,” said Ryden.
Sask Five has a handful of games remaining in the schedule and the team will likely finish the season without one of their top pitchers, Cooper Price, who is out of the lineup for four to six weeks because of a recent knee injury.
“Losing Cooper (to injury) hurts us. But we just have to find who that next guy is and who can pitch those innings. Some of those other guys that maybe would have only had two or three innings now they might have to have four or five in a game; we just have to stretch their arms out,” said Ryden.