It was a tale of two games for the Weyburn Beavers at Tom Laing Park on Wednesday night. After dropping a tight 2-1 decision in the first game of a doubleheader, the Beavers' bats came to life in the nightcap, powering them to a decisive 6-1 victory over the Swift Current 57s.
The first contest was a classic pitcher's duel, with both teams held scoreless through the first three innings. The 57s broke the deadlock in the top of the fourth when shortstop Trigg Mapes delivered a two-run single, which would prove to be all the offence they needed.
The Beavers struggled to get going against Swift Current starter Jaylen Gutierrez, who held them to just three hits over five innings. Weyburn's lone run came in the bottom of the fifth when Ryan Dauphinee drove in a run, but they could get no closer.
Beavers starting pitcher Joe Hart was tagged with the loss, allowing just one earned run while striking out six batters in four innings of work.
"All day our pitchers did really well competing and getting ahead of counts," said Beavers head coach Cam Williams. "Defence has been sharp the last week or so, which has been really good to see. And obviously, the bats were a little slow to wake up, unfortunately, but I give credit to Gutierrez over there. It was pretty good too."
The Weyburn bats woke up in the second game. The Beavers exploded for five runs in the bottom of the third inning, highlighted by a three-run home run from first baseman Brayden Mayencourt, his second of the season.
"It felt good. It was real good," Mayencourt said of the blast that broke the game open. "We had a little bit of a lull in the first game, and then we came back ready to play in the second game, and good things happened."
The offensive surge was more than enough for starting pitcher Owen McConnell, who was dominant on the mound. McConnell went six strong innings, allowing just one run and striking out eight 57s batters to earn the win.
"Really just lots of fastballs," McConnell said about his approach. "They couldn't really catch up to it, and I was just feeding them fastballs in, and that was the key to success today. Some pretty key plays. I can think of multiple getting me out of innings and stuff like that. Keeping my pitch count low, really appreciate that."
Nolan Brooks added an RBI double, and Dauphinee collected another RBI in the victory. Dauphinee’s RBI in the second game was also his 100th as a Weyburn Beaver.
The two teams will meet again on Thursday night back at Tom Laing Park. Coach Williams believes the key is to carry the momentum from the second game forward.
"When we play our game, we're a really hard team to beat," Williams said. "We're playing good defence and filling up the strike zone and just having good competitive at-bats."
The first pitch on Thursday is at 7 p.m.