As the second round of the North Saskatchewan River Baseball League post-season draws closer, the North Battleford Beavers are on the outside looking in.
The Beavers, who snuck into the playoffs as the eighth and final seed, saw their 2016 campaign come to an end Wednesday as they lost Game 2 of their best-of-three quarter-final affair to the Lloydminster Twins by a score of 12-3 at Beaver Lions Stadium.
The Twins won the opening game of the series 6-1 in Lloydminster on July 18.
“I thought we played pretty well in both games and I don't think the scores really showed how close the games were,” Ryan Sheppard said.
“We were able to get some good at-bats against them and our starters really kept us in it on both nights. However, we were a little bit short when it came to our bullpen staff this year and that was the difference.”
Despite the early exit, Sheppard says there were some positives to take out of the season, particularly with an offence that was the second best in the entire league after scoring 119 runs in the regular season.
“Our hitting was phenomenal, especially when compared to the last couple of years,” Sheppard explained. “It wasn't just all power hitters. We had guys that would put the ball anywhere on the diamond and they kept us in games that we would otherwise lose.
“We have a good group of guys here and we accomplished our goal of making the playoffs, which we missed out on last year. Now we want to be back in that top four mix once again.”
In order to get up into the upper echelon of the NSRBL, the Beavers plan to start their off-season training a little bit earlier than usual.
“Having the field house will play a huge part in geting us all warmed up,” Sheppard said. “We have a couple of guys that we are looking at bringing in that will help us out with our pitching staff, especially in the later innings.
“As a whole, I feel like our roster is in pretty good shape. We have a veteran core that have been playing together for a number of years now, and we had a couple of guys this year that are back playing after being away for a few seasons. It's a nice mix.”
Meanwhile, the Wilkie Brewers are headed back to the NSRBL semifinals as they completed a sweep of the defending champion Border City Twins with a 9-6 win Thursday in Lloydminster.
The fifth ranked Standard Hill Lakers completed a two-game upset of the fourth seeded Unity Cardinals Thursday as they picked up a 4-2 victory at home.
All three teams that have advanced to the semifinals are now playing a waiting game to find out who they will be facing.
The third seeded Meadow Lake Sox and the sixth ranked Macklin Lakers are tied up at a game apiece as they prepare for a third and deciding game Tuesday night in Meadow Lake.
If the Sox win, they will play the Brewers while Standard Hill will take on the Twins.
However, if Macklin pulls off the upset, they will have to face the top-ranked Twins while the Brewers go up against Standard Hill.
The dates and times for the semifinals will be determined following Tuesday's game.
