The Estevan KPC mosquito AAA Sluggers dropped a doubleheader against the Regina Buffalos on May 23 in their home opener.
Estevan led throughout the first game, but eventually lost 11-10 and fell 15-5 in the following game.
In the first game, the Sluggers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning as Derek Weinrauch beat a run down to score the game’s first run.
The 2-0 lead didn’t last long for Estevan, and Regina scored three runs with two out in the second inning.
By the bottom of the third the score was 3-3, and the Sluggers offence came alive in the inning scoring four runs. Mason Fichter led off the inning with a triple and scored off a single.
In the same inning, with two out, the Sluggers collected three consecutive runs to lead 7-3.
By the sixth inning, the Sluggers had a 10-5 lead, but the Buffalos rallied in that inning and scored the maximum six runs to take the lead.
The Sluggers, failing to score a run in their half of the sixth inning, fell short of the win.
Coach Ryan Siever said the team played well, but they made some defensive errors which led to the Regina victory.
“Just a bad defensive inning that seems to get us every game, we gave up six runs and just can’t seem to find a way to stop the bleeding and limit that six to three or four (runs) instead,” he said.
Despite the loss, Siever acknowledged his two pitchers, Derek Weinrauch and Hayden Lavoie, saying both threw strikes and pitched well.
In the following game, the Sluggers fell 10-2 after the first inning and couldn’t come back from the deficit. After the fourth inning, the score was 15-5 and the game was called since the Buffalos were up by ten runs
Throughout the game the offense struggled according to Siever.
“We just didn’t really look like we were too ready at the plate … we started to get something going on a little bit in the last inning there but just not enough to keep the game going,” he said.
Throughout both games, the Sluggers made defensive mistakes, and Siever said the team needs to work on defensive positioning for their upcoming games.
“We’ll be working a lot on defence this week for sure, we still need to, obviously, work on our batting as well but I think it’s going to be more defensive stuff,” Siever said.
The next action for the Sluggers is a tournament from May 29 to 31 in Weyburn.
