A strong game off the mound and early luck with the bats powered the Estevan TS&M peewee AAA Tornados to a 6-4 win over the Weyburn Beavers at Cactus Park’s Dayman Trucking Co. Ltd. Field on Sunday afternoon.
Tornados pitcher Tayce Miller began the action by helping set up two outs in the top of the first inning thanks to grounders batted straight back to him before Kaleb Poole got his team on the board in the bottom half of the inning by scoring from third on a passed ball from Beavers pitcher Dallen Oxelgrin.
The Tornados’ Derek Weinrauch then made the score 2-0 in the bottom of the second, which was followed by Holden Schaffer knocking in a couple of runs with a hit up the middle. The Beavers had a great chance to eat into that lead in the top of the third inning with Mac Keslering and Oxelgrin reaching base before any outs were recorded, but Miller made sure the threat would not show results by striking out the next three batters he faced.
“I just try to throw strikes,” said Tayce. “Just try to get them out, don’t worry about them.”
“Behind the plate I was just sticking with the first two pitches that he was starting to throw, the four-seam and the two-seam,” added Tornadoes catcher Mason Fichter. “It started to work out, so I just stuck with it.”
The Beavers got one run back in the top of the fourth inning on a drive down the first base line by Kale Williamson that scored Davin Bourassa. After Weinrauch touched home plate in the bottom of the fourth to make the score 5-1, the Beavers’ Ryker Watt replied by hitting a double to the gap between left and centre field, stealing third and running home on a wild throw.
Tyler Sagen made it 6-2 in the bottom of the fifth by reaching base on a single to left field before advancing to second and trying for third on an infield hit by Poole where a wild throw to the base allowed him to score. The Beavers staged a late comeback in the top of the sixth inning with Coop Walbaum and Rylan Erb scoring late only to have Poole strike out the final batter of the afternoon to record the save.
“The second game was a good bounce back,” said Tornados coach Tim Miller, noting a slow start cost them in the opening match of the Sunday doubleheader. “We bent a little bit in the last inning, but we didn’t break.”
The Tornados’ split on Sunday followed an 11-2 loss and 3-1 win, thanks to a complete game pitching performance by Kaleb Bechtold, over the White Butte Broncos at Cactus Park on Saturday. Miller said they would have liked to earn a 3-1 record over the homestand, but the games showed the club has made strides in all aspects of the game over the past few months with a little bit more work still to go.
“Our fielding is getting better,” said Miller. “It’s more mentally let’s get ready. The focus is getting or being ready to play when we come to the diamond. Now we’re going to get a little more fielding work (going) and our pitching has been good.
“It looks like we’ve got a little bit of work to do on our bats to score a few more runs, but for the most part it’s coming.”
