The Prince Albert U18 Royals picked up a pair of wins to begin their Saskatchewan Premier Baseball League (SPBL) campaign in Regina over the weekend.
The Royals picked up a doubleheader sweep of the Regina Buffaloes on Saturday with 15-8 and 9-5 victories.
Royals head coach Scott Gladstone says he was pleased with the efforts turned in from the pitching staff.
“We started off great (on) Saturday and picked up two big wins. We had great pitching in our first two games. Lukas Robin started the first and pitched five innings and then Isaiah Parent cleaned up everything else. The second game, Kolby Brown pitched a gem and Jaxson Robertson allowed one run in two innings for a save. It was a pretty good start for Saturday.”
In the 15-8 game, the Royals were led offensively by Lukas Robin, Tye Semenchuk and Kolby Brown who each had a pair of hits. Carter Martin also drove in three runs for Prince Albert.
In the 9-5 win, Tye Semenchuk finished the game three for four with a double and three runs scored while Isaiah Parent drove in three runs.
Sunday wouldn’t be as kind to the Royals as they would be swept in a doubleheader by the Regina Blue Jays 11-1 and 10-8 to finish the weekend with a .500 record at 2-2.
The Royals possess a mixture of young and veteran talent with several returning players as well as a handful of newcomers making their way up from the U15 program.
Gladstone says he was pleased with how the team performed to start league play.
“They handled themselves pretty well I thought. We’re real excited for the year to come. I feel like we’re deeper in our pitching this year. We got some younger guys, but they’ve got some pretty good stuff…. We’ve got six returning guys and we’ve got six first year guys, so we’ve got a pretty good mix here and I feel like our pitching is going to carry us a long way.”
The Royals return to action on Friday night when they travel to Saskatoon to take on the A’s. First pitch is at 6 p.m.
sports@paherald.sk.ca
