The North Battleford Beavers were in a do or die situation Wednesday and they did, forcing a third and deciding game against the Meadow Lake White Sox.
The Beavers' strategy was to put their best pitcher on the mound with the best lineup around him and it paid off. Rylan Rogers was the winning pitcher for the home team while Craig Weran was the losing pitcher in the 5-1 game.
Game three was set for Thursday night and it was expected Meadow Lake would start their big right-hander Quincey Winkler while the Beavers planned to march Matt Benson out to the mound.
All other North Saskatchewan River Baseball League series were wrapped up as of Wednesday.
The Wilkie Brewers and Unity Cardinals started their series Tuesday and it was the Brewers winning that one 8-7 and following that up with another 8-7 win in game two Wednesday night.
Rick Cey made his first pitching appearance since the playoffs last year and went seven strong in game one for Wilkie while the Cardinals had Francis Kiefer on the mound. Game one had plenty of hard hits, as Justin d'Entremont hit two home runs and Keith Heitt for Unity and the Brewers had seven doubles and a triple.
In game two, Brad Frehlich went the complete game on the mound for Wilkie while Unity started Heitt and were forced to go to the bullpen twice, but fell short as they had the go-ahead run on base in the seventh inning.
The other series that wrapped up Wednesday night was between the Lloydminster Junior Redhawks and Border City Blue Jays. After the Redhawks forced game three with a 5-0 win Tuesday, they did just enough Wednesday to complete the comeback. The Redhawks advanced with a 4-1 win and will now face the Wilkie Brewers in the second round.
The Lloydminster Meridian Twins waited for their opponents, as they will play either the fourth place Meadow Lake White Sox or the fifth place Beavers.
