The Yorkton Orioles, a men's masters baseball team, captured a silver medal at the recent provincial masters' baseball tournament at Watrous in only its first year of existence.
The 24 team tournament had teams placed in pools of three to start. The Orioles won their pool by shutting out one of last year's finalists, Coteau Hills, 3-0. Rob Kozak and Trevor Latham pitched three inning each.
The Orioles followed up with a 14-2 win over Kindersley. Orioles' player coach Chris Wyatt started on the mound, with Mark Cuthill closing.
Wyatt and Jeff Bahrey each pounded the ball over the fence for a homer each to lead the offense.
The Orioles came up against Gull Lake in the quarter final. Yorkton mercied their opponents 13-2.
Wyatt started pitching and threw for three innings. Tom Cook closed.
Mark Oliver led the offense with a home run in the game.
The win over Gull Lake advanced the Orioles to the semi-finals where they came up against last year's champs, Lockwood.
An very narrow come-from-behind 11-10 win advanced the Orioles to the finals. Yorkton was down 8-1 after three innings. Cuthill got the game winning hit, Wyatt reports.
The Regina Drifters handed Yorkton its only defeat with a 12-4 win in the tournament final. "We just ran out of gas in the fourth or fifth innings and the Regina bats came alive bigtime," Wyatt explains.
Wyatt started for Yorkton for two innings, Latham worked two innings and Cook closed.
The Orioles won the silver medal after a hard fought weekend. "It was close. We just needed one more pitcher," Wyatt suggests.
The Orioles would like to thank their sponsors, Alexander's Men's Wear, Yorkton Plumbing and Heating, and Brent Ger-man at LDM Foods.
