The North Battleford Beavers jumped into first place in the SPBL standings after taking two games against the Moose Jaw Canucks Saturday at Beaver Lions Stadium.
They opened game one with some strong defence, backing one of the best starts of the season on the mound in a 3-1 victory.
The Beavers then gave up the lead in the top half of the seventh in game two before a walk off fielder's choice did the trick in a 12-11 win.
Jared Schmidt pitched a dominating complete game, going seven innings, allowing just one earned one while striking out four. His offence put two runs on the board in the first and North Battleford wouldn’t look back from there.
“We were very happy with Jared’s game,” Head Coach Mike Hudec said following game two. “He had a high strike to ball ratio and used a mix of fastballs, curve balls and the occasional changeup to keep the Moose Jaw batters off balance. When the team sees that kind of steady pitching they seem to play up to a higher level defensively.”
The hot bats continued in the bottom of the second, highlighted by Paul Cubbon ripping an RBI single, extending the lead to 3-0.
In the top of the third, Cubbon’s strong offence transferred into quality defence, dropping to his knees behind the plate to block a pitch in the dirt before gunning out a runner trying for third. Andrew Hudec was lock-down at second base as well, coming up with a diving snag to keep the shutout in tact.
In the fourth, Moose Jaw cut into their deficit with a looping RBI single to left field. Schmidt buckled down the rest of the way, though, getting Dakota Statham to whiff on a third strike fastball while runners were on first and second.
The Beavers looked to add to their advantage just two innings later, but an improbable double play put an end to any offensive effort. Schmidt stroked a towering fly ball over the right fielder’s head, giving North Battleford two men on with one out. Tyrus Thomson worked a walk previously. Any threat was eventually erased by a rare 3-6 double play.
North Battleford ended the game like they started, with some solid defence. Schmidt worked a one, two, three seventh inning with some help from Braydon Buziak, who snagged a hard line drive before making the putout at first. He then put together another groundout and a flyout to give the Beavers their third win of the season.
In game two, both teams battled throughout the afternoon. It was a night and day difference from game one of the double header. This time the bats did the talking.
Moose Jaw took a 6-5 advantage in the top of the sixth inning after a double to left centre split the outfield in half to score the go ahead run. The Beavers wouldn’t go away easily.
North Battleford strung two singles together from Schmidt and Cubbon the next time they had the bats in their hand, putting runners on the corners with zero outs. Cubbon then stole second base to give the Beavers two runners in scoring position. A clutch, two RBI single from Hudec gave the lead back to the red and white before they really poured on the offence. Gavin Nolin smacked a triple over the head of the centre fielder to make it 8-6 before Tyler Benoit hit a sac fly, giving the Beavers a three-run advantage.
Just like they had all game long, the Canucks came back once again, this time to take a three-run lead of their own. It was 11-9 heading into the final at-bats for the Beavers.
For the second time in the young season, North Battleford walked off the opposition, scoring four runs when they needed it the most. Buziak started the rally with a single before sliding safely into second base with a steal. Brock Thomson came through in a high leverage situation with a single over the third baseman, putting runners on the corners once again. Schmidt chopped a fielder’s choice RBI, 11-10. Cubbon followed suit to tie the game up before Brett Benoit tapped a ground ball to second, scoring the game winning run.
“Our team never gives up,” Hudec said. “Even when we gave up four runs in the top of the seventh the boys stayed positive and encouraged each other rather than being defeated. It says a lot about their character and points to good things to come for this season.”
The Beavers are now 4-1-1 on the season.
By John Cairns
The North Battleford Beavers looked to continue their winning ways Sunday.
It was their second double-header in two days but the Beavers did not look any worse for wear in the first game as they built a 5-0 lead.
The Beavers scored one in the first on a Paul Cubbon RBI that scored Jared Schmidt, one in the second, and three in the third with Andrew Hudec, Gavin Nolin and Joel Revet all crossing the plate, before Regina scored two in the top of the fourth.
The Beavers answered back with Nolin driving home two more runs in the bottom of the fourth for a 7-2 lead through four.
Regina scored two in the top of the fifth inning but in the bottom of the inning, Dylan Schaefer scored from third on a fielder's choice to make it 8-4.
In the sixth, the Beavers loaded up the bases with two outs for Schaefer. But he flied out to leave the bases loaded and the scored stayed 8-4 through six.
Tyrus Thomson was able to retire the side easily in the seventh to secure an 8-4 win. Overall, Thomson had a solid outing on the hill for the Beavers giving up only four runs on nine hits, while the Beavers scored eight runs on 13 hits with one Regina error.
In game two of the doubleheader, a double by Cubbon scored Schaefer in the first to put the Beavers up 1-0. A wild pitch then moved Cubbon to third and he scored on Nolin's sac fly to make it 2-0. That would be all the scoring through one.
A wild pitch from Paul Cubbon scored Dorrian Apakew from third to cut it to 2-1 in the top of the second.
The Beavers seemed to blow the game open in the bottom of the inning.
A Tyler Benoit single scored Kolby Heidt from third to make it 3-1 in the bottom of the inning. A hit by Cubbon scored a run all the way from second, and then a wild pitch that got away from the catcher scored another run from third to make it 5-1. Then an error allowed Nolin to make it to first base, allowing another run to score to make it 6-1. The inning finally and mercifully ended for Regina when Nolin was caught in a rundown and was tagged out at home plate.
It seemed as if the game was over. Undaunted, Regina went back to work to chip at the
Beavers lead.
An RBI triple in the third by Jimmy Smith scored a second Regina run, followed by a sacrifice fly by Hudson Paul to make it 6-3 in the third. In the fourth Regina Buffalo threatened again with runners on.
A single by Chris Stoner scored two runs, and we had a ball game again at 6-5.
In the fifth, a single from Hudson Paul scored Smith to tie the game. Then a single by Devan McFayden then scored Paul to make it 7-6.
Then another wild pitch brought home McFayden from third to make it 8-6 Regina.
Brock Thomson was brought in shortly after to relieve Cubbon on the mound, and the Beavers got out of the inning.
The road team promptly squandered their two run lead due to miscues in the outfield. A fly ball dropped into centre field and a throw to third was missed, scoring two runs for the Beavers.
Then a wild pitch brought home Braydon Buziak from third and gave the Beavers the lead right back at 9-8.
A hit by Paul Cubbon that went between the second baseman's legs scored Brock Thomson to make it 10-8 Beavers.
Hits from Nolin and Hudec each scored runs to make it 12-8 Beavers, and then a triple from Jared Schmidt scored two more to blow it open again for the Beavers at 14-8.
Another wild pitch allowed Schmidt to score from third and it was 15-8 Beavers after five.
In the sixth Schaefer's triple added another run with two out to make it 16-8 Beavers.
A double-play ended the game for a 16-8 final for the Beavers.
In picking up their sixth win of the season, the Beavers got 15 hits and there were four Regina errors. The result completed a sweep for the Beavers of what was an exhausting weekend in which they played four games in two days.
The next Beavers home game is June 1 against Macklin Lakers.
