The SE Pump Performance Midget AAA Twins got a couple of great performances on the mound Saturday as they swept the Northwest Prairie Pirates in a doubleheader.
The Twins won 4-1 and 3-1 at Lynne Prime Field Saturday afternoon over the bottom feeding Pirates but were able to take a lot of positives out of the weekend, not the least of which was the performance of their pitchers, Brett MacMurchy and Ryan Gaab.
“They were spot on,” said Twins assistant coach Kent Phillips. “They hit their spots and they weren't falling behind the batters at all. That's huge when you can jump ahead right away.”
MacMurchy pitched a gem in the early game, allowing only five hits and two walks for one earned run while striking out three. He was helped out by his team at the plate when the Pirates committed six errors on the field. A Tyren Dorrence RBI single gave the Twins a 3-1 lead in the third and the Twins took the 4-1 lead in the sixth when a Jaxon Robertson single scored Walker Happ.
In the second game, the Twins had problems early figuring out lefthanded Pirates hurler Skyler Mackie but persevered until a fifth inning triple from Luke Niemegeers scored Rhett Nikolejsin to tie the game 1-1. The next batter, Layne Shad, singled Niemegeers home to give the Twins the lead.
On the mound, Gaab pitched one of the best games of the season for the Twins, striking out nine and allowing only six hits in the game while walking a lone batter.
The weekend's first game wasn't as successful for the Twins as they lost 9-7 at home to the Regina White Sox. Part of the issue was again falling behind early as the White Sox plated four before the Twins had taken their turn at bat.
“Those were little things,” Phillips said. “We made one error in the first inning. We missed our cutoff guys at least three or four times throughout the game. That gave them extra bases that ended up coming in to score and ended up biting us in the butt at the end.
“We gave up four runs in that inning, mainly because of missing our cutoff guys and we lose by two runs, so there you go.”
It wasn't all bad in the game, at least at the plate, as Jose Reyes went 2-for-2 with three RBI and MacMurchy went 1-for-3 with two RBI.
Nikolejsin allowed 12 hits and walked one over six and a third innings, allowing eight earned runs. Thomas Husband finished off the game.
The Twins only have a few more games in the regular season before provincials July 21-23. Phillips and head coach Blaine Kovach will put their heads together to figure out a pitching rotation for that time now that they've seen all their pitchers a few times this year.
“We've got it pretty narrowed down now,” Philips said. “We did some experimenting throughout the year. That's basically what the season is about, seeing who can perform where and we're starting to come down to crunch time. The lineup looks like it's pretty much set.”
The Twins will play a doubleheader at Muenster against the Red Sox Wednesday and then come home for a pair against the Parkland Expos July 15 at Lynne Prime Field to close out the regular season. Games Saturday are scheduled for 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.
