The South East Performance Pump Service midget AAA Twins used strong starting pitching and timely hitting to pull out three wins in the Bridge City last weekend.
The Twins opened a doubleheader at Cairns Field against the host Saskatoon Diamondbacks on May 14 with a tough 11-1 loss, but came back to edge the D-Backs 2-1 that evening thanks to a strong start by pitcher Carter Sorenson who struck out six while only allowing one earned run over 6.2 innings. The Twins then stopped a late charging Saskatoon Cubs team at Cairns Field on Sunday morning with a game-winning single by Rhett Nikokjsin in the top of seventh inning that scored Talen King to make the score 5-4. A few hours later the southeast team used a five-run fifth inning, which included a three-run homer by Ryan Gaab, to beat the Saskatoon Giants 5-4.
“We knew that (with) our starting pitching we needed to do a little bit better because going into it these Saskatoon teams they pick up on our mistakes and they are the ones that they'll hit what we throw down the middle of the plate,” said Blaine Kovach, head coach of the Twins. “That's what they did the first game. After that our starting pitching came together and they trusted the defence and they started moving the ball around a little bit and kept the guys off balance, which was huge for those three wins.”
The three wins improved the Twins' record to 5-5 placing them fifth in the Saskatchewan Premier Baseball League (SPBL) standings. Kovach said this is the first time in years the team has enjoyed a .500 record at this point in the season and the hope is they can keep that success going this Friday to Sunday at the SPBL midget Selects tournament.
“We just (need to) continue on with where we left off in Saskatoon last weekend,” he said. “Keep with the hitting and hopefully get some good starting pitching out of it and get some of these small town guys, these southeast corner guys, the chance to crack the Team Sask squad.”
