It started bad and ended the exact same way Wednesday night for the North Battleford Beavers in North Saskatchewan River Baseball League action.
The Wilkie Brewers had the bats working early, jumping all over Beavers pitcher Kyle Gregoire in the top of the first inning. After getting through the inning giving up three runs, the offence came out and didn't fare much better. They mustered two base runners but couldn't cash them in.
The Brewers didn't let up, scoring five runs in the second, giving them a very comfortable lead.
Matt Benson came out to pitch the third inning for North Battleford and settled things down. He allowed just the one run in the third and shut Wilkie out in the fourth and fifth innings.
The pitching change helped the offence, too. The Beavers scored three runs in their half of the inning, bringing them to within five, but that's as close as they would get.
After a couple of quick innings, Wilkie's offence woke back up in the sixth, and Benson seemed to tire, having trouble finding the strike zone. The Brewers built on their lead by peppering North Battleford with consistent walks and base hits.
The Beavers went down in order in the bottom of the sixth, ending the game an inning early because of Wilkie's large lead.
North Battleford now has a 1-2 record after winning their first game against Mervin. The Beavers lost Tuesday night 9-8 in Unity. Meanwhile, this was Wilkie's first win of the year after tying their first game 12-12 against Unity.
