A couple of big losses at home to the Saskatoon Diamondbacks had the Southeast Performance Pump midget AAA Twins back to the drawing board a little bit.
The Diamondbacks won 15-2 and 11-6 Saturday at Lynn Prime Park thanks in no small part to some miscues by the home team.
In the 15-2 opener Saturday, the Twins allowed 13 walks in five innings and the Dimondbacks were up 11-0 by the middle of the second inning.
“The dropped balls and throwing strikes is a big thing,” said Twins assistant coach Kent Phillips. “We have to do that better and unfortunately we didn’t get that done in the second game either.”
The Diamondbacks were also knocking the ball around pretty well in the two games, as there were five doubles and a triple hit by the Dimaonbacks in the two games.
“We always know we’re going to be in tough against the Diamondbacks,” Phillips said. “They’ve got a good program up there and they’re very well coached. We just tried to limit the mistakes and keep them off the bases as much as we can. Any time you give them an extra opportunity to give them continued at bats, the more they’re going to do with it.”
The Twins did have a good inning in the fifth of the second game as three Saskatoon pitchers were each having difficulty finding the strike zone consistently. Thomas Husband, Hudson Neuberger and Jayke Smolinski’s bases loaded walks each scored a run, but the Diamondbacks righted their ship and were able to get the next out.
“We were trying to be a put more patient at the plate and recognizing the pitch selection and what we need to do instead of just hacking when we get up there and swinging at everything that comes across,” said Phillips.
Last weekend, the Twins went 2-2 at an American Legion tournament in Medicine Hat and played well, according to Phillips.
“There are some good teams we played there and in the final game we played Sunday morning, we hit the ball pretty well and one of the better games we’ve had hitting wise,” he said.
The Twins beat the Parkland (Alta.) Twins 3-2 to open the tournament and completed it with an 11-8 win in a consolation win over the host Medicine Hat Moose Monarchs.
This weekend will be a busy one with the Twins playing a pair of doubleheaders — Saturday at the Regina White Sox and Sunday at Weyburn against the Swift Current 57s.
