The Southeast Performance Pump Twins were getting a little bit closer each game they played to getting their first win of the season and finally on Sunday afternoon they were able to do it.
In Saskatchewan Premier Baseball League action, the midget AAA Twins defeated the Muenster Red Sox 4-2 in the second half of their doubleheader at Lynn Prime Park, only a short time after losing 9-6 in an extra inning to the Sox.
The previous day, they lost 15-1 and 3-2 to the Saskatoon Cubs at Lynn Prime Park.
“I think the boys will feel good about themselves after a couple of games (Sunday),” said Twins assistant coach Kent Phillips. “We got close (Saturday) but that’s a really good team. So now it feels good to finally get one.”
In the Cubs’ series, they were down 9-1 in the bottom of the second already when Alex Kerr drove home Thomas Husband with a two-out single for the Twins’ only run of the game. The ten walks issued by Twins pitchers didn’t help in that game, nor did the five unearned runs.
They snapped into it in their second game, despite being down 3-1 in the bottom of the seventh. Hudson Neuberger hit an RBI single to score Jose Reyes with none out. The Twins eventually advanced a runner to third base but Burke Lyons struck out swinging for the final out of the game.
Ty Nikolejsin pitched well, allowing only five hits and two walks for three earned runs in the complete game loss.
In their first game Sunday, the Twins committed three errors in the field. Kerr was 1-for-3 with three RBI and Reyes drove home two runs despite going 0-for-2.
“If we cut down on the errors we’ll be fine,” Phillips said.
Jayke Smolinski pitched well in his five innings of work in the second game, striking out seven with five walks and three hits and he allowed no runs. Husband pitched a pair of good innings in relief with allowing two runs, only one earned. Twins pitchers were generally able to keep the ball down in the strike zone and the Red Sox were unable to turn the ball around and knock it deep.
“Anything down around the knees, it’s tough to roll the ball over,” Phillips said. They’ll end up grounding it into the dirt and make a nice, easy ground ball.”
The Twins scored their first runs of the game in the third inning. Hudson Neuberger had a ground out RBI to make it 1-0 and then Kerr knocked a triple into right field to score Tyran Dorrance to make it 2-0. Lyons then had an RBI single to cash in Kerr. A sacrifice flyout by Reyes in the fourth gave the Twins a 4-0 lead and all the runs they would get.
Rallies for runs were tough to come by with this relatively inexperienced Twins team but they generally happened when they’ve been putting the ball in play and forcing the other teams to make plays.
“If you just strike out and sit back down again it doesn’t force the other team to have to do anything other than pitch strikes,” Phillips said.
The Twins will now have a weekend off of league play but will be back at it May 26 with a doubleheader at home against the Saskatoon Giants.
