The Southeast Legacy midget AAA Twins had two tough losses against the Saskatoon Cubs and the Muenster Red Sox on June 20.
The first game of the day was against Saskatoon and the Twins dropped an 11-3 decision, then they fell 4-1 to Muenster in the following game.
In the game against the Cubs, the Twins scored a run in the top half of the first inning, but in the bottom half, Saskatoon responded and tied the game.
After a scoreless second inning, the Twins took a 2-1 lead in their half of the third inning. Again, the Cubs kept rebounding as they took a 3-2 lead.
The Twins tied the game in the fourth, and the Cubs scored eight unanswered runs in the next two innings to win the game.
Pitcher Kirkland Chalus pitched 3 1/3 innings, and allowed six runs on five hits, with five strikeouts.
“He was rolling along … in the game and, all of a sudden, the one inning he just lost control of the strike-zone for a couple of batters,” said assistant coach Kent Phillips.
Phillips also mentioned the Twins had just one unfortunate inning where they let the game slip away from them.
“We had one bad inning where we gave up a couple hits, and had a couple walks and a hit batter, and next thing you know, by the time we got control of the damage, it was too late."
In the game against the Muenster Red Sox, Twins pitcher Josh Brown threw two scoreless innings without giving up a hit. Then in the third, Muenster scored a run leaving the Twins with a 1-0 deficit after the inning.
In the fourth inning, after a 45 minute rain delay, Phillips noticed that Brown struggled to maintain throwing the way he was earlier in the game.
“He had a couple of walks, and a couple of hits … next thing you know we gave up three runs,” he said
The deficit was too much for the Twins to overcome, since they only scored one run in the seventh inning.
Despite the loss, Phillips was impressed with the pitching.
“He pitched really well, we just didn’t give him many run support which is unfortunate.”
Even though the Twins lost both games, Phillips said the team played well defensively.
“The bright side to the weekend was we didn’t make any errors, so we went two ball games without any errors, so that’s huge.”
The Twins have a record of 8-11 and are seventh in the standings, but they expect to play more consistent baseball with a full team when Carson Perkins returns for the next game, after attending the Vauxhall Baseball Academy in Alberta.
Phillips said Perkins can pitch multiple innings during a game and he will help the team defensively, as well.
The Twins next game will be June 28, at Lynn Prime Park for a doubleheader against the Parkland Expos. Games start at 1 p.m.
