Beavers pitcher Dave Millar had another strong outing as North Battleford downed the Unity Cardinals 4-2 Friday night at Beaver Lions Stadium.
It was the final home game of the regular season for the Beavers.
Millar pitched a complete game four-hitter to earn the win for North Battleford. Unity pitcher Ben Gieni went five innings, striking out six batters and giving up two runs. He picked up a no decision for his efforts. Relief pitcher Tyler McKee pitched the sixth inning and gave up two runs to get saddled with the loss.
The Beavers opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning. Left-fielder Ryan Shepherd reached first base after the throw from Unity shortstop Francis Kiefer pulled the first baseman off the bag. Second-baseman Brennan Lampitt drew a walk and first-baseman Rory Gregoire was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Designated Hitter Blair Geering hit a sacrifice fly to right field to cash Shepherd in from third. Ryan Muyers grounded out to the pitcher to end the inning.
Millar cruised through the first two innings for the Beavers, sitting down the first six Unity batters in order. In the top of the third, Cory Wildeman was hit by a pitch to put two runners on with two outs. Millar got out of the jam by getting Scott Greenwald to fly out to Kyle Gregoire in centre field.
Ben Gieni settled down after a rough first inning, retiring the next six batters. In the bottom of the fourth, he ran into trouble again. Rory Gregoire reached first base after McKee, who was playing centre field at the time, dropped a fly ball. After Geering bunted Gregoire over to second base, Muyers hit an infield single to put two runners on. Brad Eischon then drove the second pitch of the at bat into left field to score Gregoire. Gieni then struck out Derrick Chapman and got Cadrin to pop up to the pitcher to end the inning.
The Beavers looked to add to their lead in the bottom of the fifth. With one out, Lampitt singled and stole second base. Kyle Gregoire followed with a single to right field, allowing Lampitt to scamper to third. With runners on the corners, the Beavers attempted a double steal. Gregoire broke for second and Wildeman threw to Greenwald. Lampitt was slow getting off third base and Wildeman's throw beat the runner to home plate. Rory Gregoire grounded out to second to end the frame.
Unity tied the game in the top of the sixth inning. After Wildeman struck out to start the inning, Greenwald reached base with an infield single. Ben Gieni grounded a ball to shortstop, but it got through Cadrin to put runners on first and second.
Next up was Mark Ralson who popped a ball into left field. Neither Shepherd nor Chapman were able to get to it the and ball fell between the two. Because there was only one out, Wildeman and Gieni had to tag up, forcing the lead runner to hold at third base.
After McKee struck out, Kiefer doubled to the gap in right field, scoring Wildeman and Gieni to the delight of the Unity fans in attendance. Ralston was held at third. With runners on second and third bases, Cory Hoffman flied out to right field to end the threat.
With McKee replacing Gieni on the mound, the Beavers scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth. Geering and Muyers drew walks to start the inning. Eischon laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners to second and third. Chapman cashed in both runners with a single up the middle of the infield that died in the grass just behind second base to put the Beavers up 4-2. McKee struck out Cadrin and Shepherd to end the sixth.
It was three up and three down in the top of the seventh for Millar. He got Graeme Gieni to ground out to the shortstop, struck out Tyler Gilbert and got Wildeman to pop up to the catcher to end the game.
With the win, the Beavers (4-6) have won four of their last six games to climb up to sixth in the NSRBL standings. They move to 1.5 games back of Unity (5-4) for fifth in the standings.
The Beavers play their final four games of the regular season on the road. Their next game is Wednesday night in Edam against the Blue Sox (3-6). Unity also plays Wednesday night as they host the league-leading Lloydminster Twins.
