The Prince Albert Royals couldn’t start things off on the right foot as they opened the U18 AA Tier 2 provincials with a 13-3 loss to the Saskatoon Athletics
Royals head coach Scott Gladestone says Prince Albert’s pitching staff gave up too many free passes on the bump.
“We struggled a little bit on the mound to start the game here. Some walks and some wild pitches kind of hurt us. I thought we swung the bat pretty well. A play at the plate to end the game is pretty exciting. We’re going to shake this one off and work for tonight’s game, basically.”
Royals pitchers gave up 14 walks in only five innings of play. Kolby Brown got the start and took the loss for Prince Albert, surrendering one earned run on one hit over one and a third innings
Logan Edwards and Brandon Moose would finish the remainder of the game on the mound for the Royals.
For Saskatoon, Jayce Wintonyk-Pilot earned the victory tossing four innings of two-run ball allowing 1 hit, walking one batter and striking out seven.
Gladestone says he wants to see the Royals throw more strikes throughout the weekend.
“I think it’s just a matter of playing catch. We’ve got to find that strike zone and just pound it the whole time. Basically, we can’t afford to waste too many pitches. Just throwing strikes and playing catch with the catcher doesn’t have to be super hard. You just got to throw strikes, and sometimes these guys will get themselves out.”
Prince Albert took on the Northeast Red Sox in the 6 p.m. game Friday, results were not available as of press time.
