John MacNeil
Daily Herald
Tye Semenchuk might just as well have been Ty Cobb on Friday afternoon at Andy Zwack Field in Prince Albert.
The 18-year-old Semenchuk hit the walk-off RBI in the bottom of the seventh inning as the host Prince Albert Royals defeated Manitoba’s Elmwood Giants 11-10 in opening-day action at the Western Canadian 18U AA baseball championship tournament.
Semenchuk’s heroics scored fellow hometown kid Danny Acorn, who set the stage with a two-run double to centre field, with one out, to even the score at 10-10. Acorn also turned a defensive gem in the top of the seventh, as he caught a line drive at third base and executed the Royals’ second double play of the game.
It was that kind of a back-and-forth contest for both the hosts and the Winnipeg-area Giants, who made an emphatic statement earlier Friday with a 15-0 victory over the Chestermere Crushers of Alberta.
No one was leaving the ball park as Prince Albert showed itself as more than worthy hosts.
“It was awesome,” said Semenchuk, the Royals’ catcher and a freshly minted graduate of Carlton Comprehensive High School.
“It was a good crowd. We were feeding off the crowd all day. Ultimately, I think it helped us take the win over those guys. It was a good, hard-fought game. They gave us a good battle, but it’s nice to come out on top in those ones.
“The boys just stuck with it and got the win.”
With the Giants’ pitching seemingly growing tired, Semenchuk and company came to life.
Blake Carlson pitches for the Prince Albert Royals during their 11-10 victory over
Manitoba’s Elmwood Giants on Friday at Andy Zwack Field in opening-day action
at the Western Canadian 18U AA baseball championship tournament.
“With the walk-off, I was just sitting (and waiting for a) fastball,” he said. “I wasn’t going to swing at anything off-speed. Just wanted to wait for a fastball and hit it hard somewhere, and hopefully score a run. It ended up working out, so it was good.”
Dramatic finish or not, the opening-day victory alone set up the hosts well for the rest of the tournament.
“It’s massive,” said Royals coach Troy Semenchuk. “The tournament is short. This (Elmwood club) was arguably one of the top teams in the tournament. It’s their AAA team. They’ve got a good squad there.
“We battled really hard. (Blake) Carlson pitched a great game, gave us a chance, kept us in it. We got up, we fell behind, we clawed back. We had some clutch plays defensively. We had some huge hits.”
Martensville’s Luke Pauls got Prince Albert going in the fourth inning with a two-run, opposite-field double that cut Elmwood’s early lead to 5-4. Carlson, also a pickup from the Sask Five program, helped his own cause with an RBI-single past the Giants’ shortstop to make it a 5-5 ball game.
Along with Pauls and Carlson, the other two Sask Five pickups in Prince Albert’s lineup are Braxton Kuchler and Easton Leishman.
All of them have meshed well with their new Royals teammates, reported coach Semenchuk.
“They’re huge additions, as you saw today,” he said. “Carlson was the starting pitcher today and Paul had some key at-bats for us and sparked the fellas.
“We’ve got a good relationship with the Sask Five guys. Their head coach was here today and he’s pretty pumped to see the boys being successful. They really fit with our guys. It’s interesting. They essentially knocked us out of provincials a couple of weeks ago. But our guys really gelled with them, in the hotel and stuff, so it’s a good relationship. It’s really nice to add those guys — they’re good guys and good ball players.”
The nucleus of the Royals’ roster features born-and-bred Prince Albert kids who have played a lot of ball together over the years.
“We’ve got a (2008-born) group, six guys that have been together for a very long time, that are graduating this year,” said the Royals’ coach. “It’s a really special group. We’ve got some younger guys on the squad, too, that are contributing. Acorn is a great example of one of those guys.
“Everyone was contributing. We made some mistakes along the way, but guys picked each other up. Short memories and battled and did a great job.”
Owen Tolley-Procyk provided solid relief after coming on board in the fifth inning in place of starting pitcher Carlson.
Elmwood went through three pitchers. They gave up a combined 12 hits, including two each from Tye Semenchuk and Declan Borthwick, whose sacrifice out in the seventh advanced Acorn to third.
The Royals also rallied in the sixth inning as Semenchuk and Cole McGregor scored on passed balls to narrow the gap to 9-8.
Prince Albert plays twice Saturday — at 9 a.m. versus the North Delta Rays of British Columbia and at 5:15 p.m. versus the Estevan (Sask.) Brewers.
“Two big games,” said coach Semenchuk. “We watched Estevan beat B.C. (3-2) this morning. A tight game, just like ours, so it’s been good baseball all the way through.”
In other games Saturday, Estevan meets Elmwood at 11:45 a.m. and Chestermere faces North Delta at 5:15 p.m.
The tournament runs through Sunday’s 4 p.m. final.
AROUND THE BALL PARKS: Elsewhere in Prince Albert on Friday, the 15U AA Royals lost 17-3 to the AAA Red River Valley Pioneers of Winnipeg in the opening day of the Western 15U AA tournament, while Prince Albert dropped a 14-4 decision to the White Rock (B.C.) Tritons Black in the Western 13U AA championship. Action in both of those tournaments continues Saturday and Sunday.
