Baseball is back in the Battlefords and the midget AA Beavers opened their season by sweeping the Lumsden Cubs in dramatic fashion.
The bats were alive and well in the opening game of the series, as the Beavers were able to post 11 hits en route to a 7-5 win.
“We have some pretty big expectations,” Head coach Mike Hudec said. “We’re a team that’s pretty well balanced with six third year [players], four second years and a couple guys who can be considered first year but played last year with us. We are hoping to have a decent season.”
It wasn’t all on the offence, though. Brett Benoit had a fantastic start to his campaign on the bump, going five innings while striking out six.
In the top of the first, Benoit worked a one, two, three cleaning inning, spotting his fastball on the outside part of the plate and getting batters to roll over. He generated a ton of swing and misses early on while North Battleford got the ball rolling with the bats in the bottom half of the inning.
After two straight outs, second baseman Andrew Hudec lined a ground ball that bounced off the lip of the infield and over the head of the shortstop to kick start the rally. Gavin Nolin, who had a big day with the bat in his hands, followed suit, rocketing a shot through the wickets of the shortstop, splitting the outfield in half in left centre. Hudec turned on the wheels and was able to score from first, giving the Beavers a 1-0 advantage.
The Cubs battled back with the next chance they had. Benoit was able to strikeout Owen Reimer, but Mike Babey came up and dropped a single into right field before stealing second. Tony Spanier then stepped up, firing a single into right field the next pitch. Lumsden was threatening with men on the corners. Latrace Jackson tied the game up, dropping a single in front of Jared Schmidt in centre field. Spanier later scored after a wild throw to second base. The Cubs kept coming in the top of the second, Tristan Oshanny poked a single to right field, scoring Jackson to make it 3-1.
Benoit held the Cubs at bay in the top of the third, recording two of his six strikeouts. His off speed pitches started to click, and his defence came up for him as well with Nolan making a over-the-head catch in shallow left field.
His offence came to play in the bottom half. Schmidt registered a base on balls before Paul Cubbon singled to right centre. Hudec was then also delivered a free pass, loading the bases with zero outs for Nolin. The North Battleford shortstop came through in the clutch, ripping a two-run single down the right field line, scoring two and deadlocking the game at three. Benoit then helped his case, soaring a sacrifice fly to centre field, handing the Beavers a 4-3 lead.
Lumsden answered right back in the top of the fourth. Spanier hit a deep triple to left field, scoring a run and tying the game at four. The Cubs later took the lead with a sacrifice fly.
The two teams continued to exchange blows in the bottom of the fourth. Battlefords North Stars Braydon Buziak showed why he is a multi-sport athlete, putting a charge into a ball that hit off the fence in centre field for a double. Cubbon later registered his second hit of the afternoon, knotting the game at five runs a piece.
Benoit persisted to play well on both sides of the ball, knocking a single in the bottom of the fifth. A wild pitch moved him over before Joel Revet drove him in to give the Beavers a 6-5 advantage. Gavin Wourms kept the train moving with a base knock of his own. First baseman Dylan Schaefer broke the game open with a big shot to left centre, scoring Revet, making it 7-5.
Brock Thompson and Tyrus Thomson came in for relief for Benoit, closing the game out the rest of the way.
In game two, the Beavers posted a tremendous seventh inning comeback. North Battleford was able to overcome a 8-3 deficit in the last frame, walking off a 9-8 victory and starting the season 2-0.
The Cubs jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first before Spanier made it 3-0 with an RBI single in the second frame.
North Battleford’s Kolby Heidt hit an absolute bomb that ended up being a ground-rule double in the bottom half to cut the lead in half, 2-1.
Babey was up to much of the same in game two for the Cubs, this time stepping it up with a clutch, three RBI, inside the park home run to give Lumsden a 5-1 lead in the third inning.
In the bottom half of the inning the Beavers threatened with the bases loaded, but were only able to score one run with an RBI walk.
Buziak helped North Battleford chip away at the deficit, getting on base with a single before coming around to score on an eventual fielders choice in the fourth inning. He also pitched well down the stretch in game two, taking over for Nolin who started the game.
Lumsden later scored twice in the fifth, bolstering their lead to four runs. They eventually made it 8-3 heading into the bottom of the seventh where some magic happened.
A fielders choice made it 8-4 before North Battleford loaded the bases with one out. The Cubs pitchers had a difficult time finding the strike zone when it mattered most. They walked in a run. 8-5. The Beavers then scored on a wild pitch. 8-6. Cubbon came up with the biggest hit of the afternoon with a tremendous double to right field on a two-strike count, 8-8. Benoit would complete his great day with a walk-off single, sending his entire dugout into a frenzy on the first day of the season.
“It was a sign of a mature team that we didn’t give up,” coach Hudec said.
Sunday the Beavers welcomed the Humboldt Dodgers to town, and ended the day with a 6-6 tie and 13-3 loss.
The Beavers took a commanding three-run lead into the fourth inning in game one, only to have it erased by a four-run inning in the fourth. Revet had a nice day at the plate, driving in three runs while going 2-3.
Game two only lasted five innings, but that was all the Dodgers would need. In the top of the fifth Humboldt scored eight unanswered runs in a error filled inning, handing the Beavers their first loss of the season.
“There are always things we can improve on,” Hudec said after the game. “There are a few things we can work on defensively. That’s a sign of a good team if we can come back from this kind of a train wreck, in the second game of a double header. We have a big test next weekend.”
North Battleford plays host to the Moose Jaw Canucks Saturday May 14. First pitch is at 2 p.m.
