WEYBURN -- The Weyburn Beavers haven’t had a lot of success in the Western Canadian Baseball League the last few seasons, but if their home opener on Thursday night is any indication, that all may become a distant memory.
The Beavers pitching staff turned in an outstanding performance, holding the Saskatoon Berries to only a pair of hits on their way to a 9-0 victory at Tom Laing Park in Weyburn.
Second-year veteran Ian Heck led the way on the mound, putting together a quality start and in impressive fashion at that -- no runs and only one hit over six innings of work, with five strikeouts and only three walks.
Isaiah Granado tossed a hitless 1 ⅓ innings to maintain the shutout, and Jasiah Mendoza allowed a single hit while getting the final two outs in the eighth. By that time, things were well in hand for the Beavers and Joe Hart closed out the game with a clean ninth inning.
Ryan Dauphinee -- in his third season with the Beavers -- accounted for three-quarters of Weyburn’s offence himself, going 2-for-5 with a double, three runs scored and four RBI. Fellow veteran Brayden Mayencourt was 2-for-4 with an RBI, Zach Tanabe 2-for-4 with a run scored and Tyren Dorrance scored a pair of runs.
Nate Houston and Cory Wouters had Saskatoon’s only hits.
All three of the Berries’ pitchers were victimized by defensive miscues.
Merek Yeager started and allowed four runs, three earned, in 4 ⅓ innings while striking out six, Matthias Trondson gave up three runs, one earned, on six hits over the next 2 ⅔ and also struck out six before Carter Kopp closed things out by giving up a pair of runs, neither earned, on two hits.
Weyburn is back on the field Friday when they host the Regina Red Sox at 7:05 p.m. at Tom Laing Park.
Saskatoon is in Moose Jaw on Friday for the Miller Express home opener at 7:05 p.m. at Ross Wells Park.
