It was a Canada Day long weekend that started out brilliantly for the Yorkton Cardinals quest to reach the WMBL Playoffs for the first time in a half decade.
After a loss to Swift Current to open up the weekend, the Cardinals bounced back to beat the Indians the following night before scoring a huge win over their East Division rival Weyburn Beavers to earn some breathing room from last place in the division.
Coming next would be a three game series with the Melville Millionaires who despite being first in the East ahead of the Regina Red Sox, had a losing record against the Cardinals heading into the start of their series on Sunday.
After quality starts from Shaniel Rivera and Jeff Pool led the Cardinals to two straight wins to start off the weekend, the Cardinals rotation fell apart against Melville allowing 36 runs over three games against the Millionaires.
Melville would open up the annual Canada Day series on Sunday with a night game at Pirie Field.
After Melville opened the scoring in the third, the Cardinals exploded in the top of the fourth off of RBI's from Kevin McLeod and Sergio Perez in a three run inning to take an early 3-1 lead with Matt Bowles on the mound.
Bowles ended up wasting the lead, as the Millionaires rocked Bowles in the bottom of the inning to take back a 4-3 lead before chasing him from the game in the seventh after he allowed seven runs to the Millionaires on 12 hits.
RJ Page didn't fare better in relief, allowing two runs as Jose Fortuna and Casey Coyle's home runs led the Millionaires to a 9-3 win to open the series. With the loss the Cardinals two game winning streak was snapped and any hope of winning the three game series and gaining some ground on the Millionaires in the East rested on a win at Jubilee Park on Canada Day as the WMBL crossed the halfway point.
With David Toth on the mound for the Cardinals things were looking up early as three straight scoreless innings from Toth and a sacrifice fly from Meany had the Cardinals starting off well with a 1-0 lead headed into the fourth inning at Jubilee Park.
From then on there it was all Millionaires as the Melville bats were rolling on Canada Day.
To the tune of 15 hits the Millionaires sent Toth to the dugout after just five innings. Three runs apiece in the fourth and fifth were followed by two in the sixth and a whopping five runs in the seventh to add up to a 13-1 drubbing as the Cardinals were embarrassed on Canada Day by some hot swinging from their hated rivals.
Aaron Dick and Chris Estrada were left out to dry by manager Bill Sobkow in relief as Estrada allowed five runs in getting just one out in the seventh inning as the Millionaires piled it on to wrap up the series and set up the potential sweep on Tuesday night in Melville.
Trying desperately to avoid the sweep at the hands of the Millionaires, the Cardinals bats came to life on Tuesday night. Three runs batted in from Kevin McLeod as well as two RBI nights from Justin Burgess and Nick Gallipeau led the Cardinals to a huge 9-1 lead for Anthony Martinez to work with.
Down 9-1, the Millionaires chipped into the Cardinals massive lead in the fifth with a three run inning to move the score to 9-4. With a five run lead, the Cardinals should still have been safe with just nine outs between them and avoiding a sweep in the Highway 10 battle. Still Melville's hot bats had owned the Cardinals all weekend and in the final game of the series it was no different as the wheels fell off for the Cardinals in the late innings as Melville exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, wasting no time in taking back the lead.
Shellshocked and now down 11-9, the Cardinals rallied quickly as McLeod earned an RBI single in the seventh to make it 11-10 and give the Cardinals some momentum after blowing a massive lead. With the game back within reach, Mike Meany cranked a solo jack out of Pirie Field in the eighth to tie up the ballgame at 11-11 in what was turning into a wild finale of the three game set.
In the bottom of the inning, Jose Fortuna put any hopes of a Cardinals rally to bed with a two run home run following up Tyler Enns RBI single to give the Millionaires a 14-11 win in what was at one point a sure win for the Cardinals who blew an opportunity to go a full game up over the Weyburn Beavers who also lost on Tuesday night.
The sweep puts the Cardinals at 9-16 and four games back of the Millionaires who are firmly in first place in the WMBL's East Division after the halfway point in the regular season. Melville sits atop of the division at 13-12 while Regina is in second with a record of 11-13 and Yorkton holds the final playoff spot in the division with their 9-16 record putting them just a half game ahead of the 8-16 Weyburn Beavers who the Cardinals beat twice in the past week.
At the halfway point of the season the favorites in the WMBL reside in the West Division as the league's two best teams are battling it out in a tight division pennant race heading into July. Sitting atop of the league are the Medicine Hat Mavericks with a 21-3 record putting them 2.5 games ahead of the 18-5 Okotoks Dawgs in what is sure to be a tight race in the West Division as the season winds down.
In other WMBL news, the Cardinals Kevin McLeod was named WMBL Player of the Week. McLeod is batting .333 with one home run, 17 RBI's and nine stolen bases and is one of the Cardinals best hitters compiling 33 hits over 24 of the Cardinals 25 games this season. McLeod is a Canadian residing in Surrey, British Colombia and plays his college ball for Lewis and Clark State.
Next for the Cardinals are three crucial games with the Red Sox and Millionaires before the Okotoks Dawgs come to Jubilee Park for a two game set before the Cards close the homestand with a big game against the Weyburn Beavers.
Yorkton is staying afloat in the playoffs heading into July, but at 9-16 going into the final month, a winning season might not be in the cards.
