It was a much closer affair than their last two meetings, which Yorkton won by scores of 19-2 and 8-0, but the Yorkton R. Miller's Midget 'AA' Cardinals still managed to squeak out a hard fought 7-6 victory over the visiting Regina Buffalos in SPBL action on Thursday at Jubilee Park.
The win, their third straight over the Buffalos, also extended the Cardinals season best winning streak to four games.
The Cards came out of the starting blocks firing, putting up seven runs in the first three innings to give starter Caleb Bymak all sorts of run support.
Bymak, meanwhile, tossed three innings of hitless ball, issuing just two walks while striking out eight before being given the rest of the night off in favour of reliever Dylan Bourget.
The departure of Bymak from the game, combined with the addition of Bourget, brought life into a seemingly dead Buffalo bench. What followed was a series of patient at-bats and a couple of key base hits to cut the Cardinal lead down to two at 7-5 over the next 1.1 innings, before Bourget (1.1 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K) was replaced by third-year star Mason Kelley.
Kelley (2.2 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K) buckled down to get out of the fifth inning unscathed, before tossing two more innings of no-hit baseball to earn the win. However he didn't do it easily as Regina had the bases loaded and two out in the top of the seventh when Kelley painted the corner to end the game with the strikeout and preserve a 7-6 victory for the Cardinals.
Matt Wilgosh led the Cardinals offence with a 1-for-4, two RBI performance while both Peyton Perepeluk (2-for-4, RBI) and Jordan Bieber (2-for-3, walk) both had two hit games.
But it was really a tale of two games on Thursday as the Cardinals, who started off so well, simply took their foot off the gas pedal. A decision that nearly cost them, and something that assistant coach Stefan Bymak was not altogether happy with. "It was 7-1 after three innings and I think the guys let up a little bit after that," offered Bymak. "It's not something that we want them to get into the habit of doing, but sometimes that naturally happens.
"Not a good habit to get in to but in the end it's nice to see them pull through."
Holinaty earns weekly honours
Jake Holinaty joins Cardinals teammates Mason Kelley (Week Three) and Tyson Black (Week Four) as winners of the Boston Pizza Player-of-the-Week awards.
The diminutive Holinaty was named SPBL 'AA' POTW for the eighth week of the season thanks to an amazing 4-for-4, one walk performance against the Regina Buffalos on June 28.
Holinaty also scored five runs in that game and swiped three bases to aid his club to a commanding 19-2 win.
The next day, Holinaty made his first start on the mound in SPBL play and shutout the Buffalos 8-0, surrendering just three hits and three walks while striking out five batters over seven innings.
Next up
The Yorkton R. Miller's Midget 'AA' Cardinals (9-7-1) were in Regina last night to play the Regina Angels (11-4-1), however statistics were unavailable at press time.
The Midget Cardinals next home action will be tomorrow (Thursday) when they host the Regina White Sox (8-8-0). Game time is set for 7:00pm.
The Cardinals will also be hosting their home tournament this weekend (Friday-Sunday) and will welcome five teams to Yorkton: The Regina Angels, Saskatoon A's and Melville Millionaires will be the other Saskatchewan representatives at the tournament, while both Binscarth, MB, and Ste. Rose, MB, will enter a team. There will be no fee charged at the gate for any of the games and attendance is encouraged.
