The Estevan KPC mosquito AAA Sluggers picked up two recent wins with a home victory against the Weyburn Beavers on June 5 and split a doubleheader against Swift Current the following day.
In the game against Weyburn, Estevan fell behind early and trailed 2-0 in the first inning. The Sluggers responded in the bottom half by scoring a run.
After Tyler Saigeon had the leadoff walk, he eventually came around to score.
The Beavers added to their lead in the second inning.
In the third inning, Derek Weinrauch capitalized with some situational hitting, advancing the runners on bases. Mason Fichter came up to the plate with both runners in scoring position and one out, and knocked in a run.
By the end of the inning, Estevan led 4-3.
In the fourth inning with Estevan trailing 5-4, the Sluggers scored four runs to take the lead.
With the bases loaded and two outs, Saigeon hit a single, which scored two runs.
Then Estevan worked back-to-back walks to score two more.
Going into the bottom half of the fifth, the Sluggers had a narrow 8-7 lead, but the offence came alive, scoring five runs.
In that inning, The first three batters reached base and Ty Hoste smacked a single, which scored two runs. The bases ended up being loaded again later in the inning and Weinrauch hit a bases clearing triple to give Estevan a 13-7 lead.
Coach Ryan Siever was impressed with the pitching as Holden Shaver was two batters shy of pitching a complete game.
“He just threw strikes, that’s all you need out of your pitcher,” said Siever.
He was also impressed with the confidence the team showed, which helped them earn the win.
The games in Swift Current were supposed to be played in Estevan but the fields were in bad condition after heavy rain the previous night, so they played the games in Weyburn.
In the first game, Siever said the Sluggers didn’t look like they were ready to play and made some errors in the field that cost them.
“We started making some errors in the field that just kind of seemed we weren't ready to make the plays,” said Siever.
He said the starting pitcher Jackson Miller threw strikes, but the defence let some balls go passed them.
In the win, they fixed the mistakes they made in the previous game and played a lot better.
“We came back and started making plays on defence and pitchers threw strikes,” said Siever.
Siever was also impressed with the way his team was able to put the first loss behind them and play to their potential in the next game.
The Sluggers play a doubleheader against the Regina White Sox on June 13, at Cactus Park, with games starting at 1 p.m. They also play another doubleheader the next day at home against White Butte with games starting at 2 p.m.
