The Prince Albert 18U Royals were in Muenster on Sunday afternoon for a pair of games, and came back with a split.
They dropped their first game of the day 16-2 to the second best team in the league, the Weyburn Beavers, but bounced back with an exciting 17-16 triumph over the Muenster Red Sox in their second contest of the day.
“We got a win, which is always good for the boys,” coach Pat Robin said.
The Royals (3-5) fell behind 6-0 in the first inning against the Beavers, and couldn’t fight their way back into it. The Royals scored two runs in the next frame to make it a 6-2 score through two innings, thanks to a pair of RBI’s from Lukas Robin.
“We were in the game for a couple of innings,” Robin said. “But the errors that we committed started to pile up.”
Weyburn added ten combined runs in the third, fourth, and fifth innings to go up 16-2, and with the Royals unable to find any more offense, the game was called after five innings to the mercy rule. A seven run fifth put up by the Beavers was something that Robin says was a self inflicted blow.
“The fifth was a bad inning with the errors. Other than scoring a couple of runs in the second inning, we didn’t really generate much on the batting side of things.”
Sam Mallory had a day on the bump for Weyburn, pitching all five innings, striking out seven batters. He was also strong at the plate, leading the game with four RBI’s and three hits. Mark Acorn pitched four and a third innings for Prince Albert, throwing 106 pitches.
“Mark pitched a good game,” Robin said of his starting pitcher. “He went over 100 pitches and he three 66 strike, and that was his first game that he really pitched in. He’s got a few things that I pointed out for him to practice on his own time, but overall, he allowed us to be in the ball game for as long as we could.
“Weyburn is a good ball team. We would have had to be perfect to beat them. You can’t offer up all the errors that we did and expect to win. They’re just a good hitting ball team.”
Prince Albert’s second game of the day was full of runs right down to the final out. Their game against the Muenster Red Sox featured a combined 18 runs scored in the fifth inning alone. The Royals jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the second, but the Red Sox took the lead with a three spot in the fourth.
Bronson Parker began the scoring festivities in the top of the fifth with a two RBI double. The entire batting order made plate appearances in the fifth, with Parker collecting three RBI’s in the frame, as Prince Albert stormed ahead to take an 11-3 lead.
Muenster responded with nine runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth, thanks to the help of four errors committed by the Royals. The Red Sox had 13 at bats in the bottom of the fifth, and regained the lead, going up 12-11.
Prince Albert outscored Muenster 6-4 in the remaining three inning to win the game by a 17-16 final. Dawson Patterson got the win one the mound for the Royals, pitching three relief inning and giving up just two earned runs. Tai Beischer was charged with the loss for the Red Sox.
“It was a goofy game when the errors came in to play,” Robin said. “It was nice to squeak out a win, because we had that big lead and gave it right back in that fifth inning. It was a tough inning to work through, but we scooted back. (Munester) also made some errors, and that helped us win the game.”
The Red Sox have been dominant over the Royals in years past, and for Robin’s group to collect a win against Muenster this time around was an encouraging sign.
“Muenster’s had our number for many years,” he explained. “It’s probably been since peewee with this group. It was nice to beat them because of the way they’ve played against us in the past. They’re a good hitting team, too, and they get a lot of practice in with their AAA team. They’re a baseball community, everything is baseball minded, and it was good for us to come away with a win.”
The Royals return home on Wednesday night when they welcome the Saskatoon Blue Jays for their first of three meetings this season. Robin explained what he wants his team to take from the action over the weekend into Wednesday’s prime time contest.
“When we practiced on Monday, we rotated a couple of skill stations with ground balls and attacking the ball. Some of our errors are throwing errors, when we don’t have the proper technique to throw it across the diamond. We worked on other aspects like holding runners and leading off on the base.
“What we take from the weekend is that we can generate runs like the best teams. We’ve never scored nine runs against Muenster in one inning before, which is a good sign.”
Nick Dutchak will make his third start on the mound for the Royals on Wednesday night. After being out of the lineup over the weekend, Robin is confident that his starter can put his team in another position to win.
“With Nick, I know he’s going to be able to be around the strike zone. It’ll be a competitive game tomorrow, I believe. We haven’t seen them yet, but I think we’re comparable with each other. It should be a good game as long as we don’t hand it over to them on a silver platter.”
The Blue Jays (1-2) were in action on Saturday, losing 14-3 to the Weyburn Beavers.
Opening pitch on Wednesday night between Prince Albert and Saskatoon from Andy Zwack Field in Prince Albert is at 6:30 p.m.
@kyle_kosowan•sports@paherald.sk.ca
