It was a hot day in the stands and on the field as North Battleford Beavers lit up the scoreboard in double-header action against the Regina Blue Jays in AA midget baseball action Sunday.
The games at Beaver Lions Stadium were played in sunny 30 C conditions. The bats were hot as well, though some of the fielding left much to be desired at times. Wild pitches and errant throws dominated the two games.
In game one the Beavers opened the scoring in the first, and then Brock Thomson's bloop single in the third scored Gavin Nolin from second to make it 2-0 Beavers.
The Beavers extended the lead to 4-0 in the fifth with two more runs. Nolin and Thompson each had RBI in the inning.
Gavin Wourms pitched a shutout through five innings for the Beavers. Dylan Schaefer then came on to pitch in the sixth but the Blue Jays mounted a rally.
A miscue at second allowed Jordan Kirtzinger to score the first Regina run. Kirtzinger played minor ball in North Battleford for more than a decade.
Regina added a second run and then a third after the second baseman overthrew first base, cutting the margin to 4-3.
A well hit ball to centre by Jakob Vorreiter then brought home a run from second to tie it up at 4-4.
Brett Benoit came on in relief and was able to finish the inning with no further damage.
In the bottom of the inning Schaefer doubled, then advanced to third on a wild pitch. With runners on the corners and Joel Revet at the plate, an errant throw to third allowed Schaefer to come home to score, to make it 5-4.
Revet then hit one up the middle with Stewdney scoring, and it was 6-4 Beavers.
A bloop RBI single by Cubbon made it 7-4, then another wild pitch brought home another run for an 8-4 lead.
Benoit got the final three outs in the seventh to wrap up an 8-4 win.
In game two, Benoit started the game against the Blue Jays and got off to a rocky start.
A bloop single by Connor Prevost scored a run from second to give the Blue Jays the early lead.
With runners at the corners and one out, Prevost then scored on a throw to second that picked off the runner from first. That made it 2-0 Blue Jays heading to the bottom of the first.
A hit by Nolin scored Jared Schmidt to cut the margin to 2-1, and that was how it stood after one.
Regina extended the lead to 3-1 in the second, but in the third another wild pitch brought Cubbon home to make it 3-2.
In the fourth the Beavers scored three runs to take the lead. Jared Schmidt got an RBI to put the Beavers ahead and, after advancing to third, was able to come home on a wild pitch to make it 5-3. Schmidt advanced to third on a passed ball, then a wild pitch brought him home to make it 5-3, and that would be the score at the end of the fourth inning.
Regina cut the margin to 5-4 in the fifth before two more Beavers runs made it a 7-4 game. But Regina rallied in the sixth as an overthrow of first base brought home two Regina runs, and then a balk by pitcher Tyrus Thomson brought Carter Shewchuk home from third to tie it at 7-7.
In the bottom of the sixth, a wild pitch scored Paul Cubbon from third to put the Beavers ahead to stay and they added one more insurance marker on an RBI by Joel Revet to make it 9-7.
Tyrus Thomson got the final three outs in the seventh to preserve the 9-7 Beavers win and the sweep of the doubleheader.
The next action for the AA Beavers is Tuesday evening versus Macklin.
