Tonight fans at Seaman Stadium witnessed the Okotoks Dawgs topple the Fort McMurray Giants 16-7.
Sherwood Park's own and Dawgs' veteran Graham Brunner got the team rolling with a hot start on the mound. Brunner pitched four full innings, allowed only three hits, and punched out five Giant batters with strikeouts.
Cam Stephens, Ryan McFarland, Easton Corey, and Trey Mackwood came in as relievers. Corey pitched the eighth inning not allowing a walk or a hit, and punched out three Fort McMurray batters for three up, three down.
Okotoks opened the scoring at the bottom of the first getting two runs across home plate. Dawson Santana got the first run in for the Dawgs on a wild pitch. Jarrett Burney added the second run after stealing home plate.
The Dawgs made it a 5-0 game at the bottom of the third. Brendan Luther picked up his first of three RBIs on the night after hitting a single and getting Aidan Rose in for a run. Santana hit a sacrifice fly shortly after and got Spencer Sullivan in for the second run of the inning. Burney then picked up an RBI by hitting a single and getting Luther in for the final run at the bottom of the second.
Okotoks continued to put runs up on the board getting two more runs at the bottom of the third. Caleb Lumbard got the first RBI of the inning after hitting a single and got Logan Grant across home plate. Lumbard would get across home plate for the final run of the inning while Luther was up to bat.
The Dawgs added another run at the bottom of the fifth with Lumbard cashing in his second run after Sullivan hit a single.
The Giants finally answered back with three runs at the top of the sixth but, Okotoks was relentless and scored seven runs at the bottom of the inning.
Grant picked up two RBIs to start the Dawgs' scoring in the sixth, hitting a double that got Jason Arriola and Nash "Bash" Crowell in for runs. With bases loaded Sullivan was hit by a pitch which advanced Grant across home plate. Luther also picked up two RBIs when he hit a single to get Rose and Lou Anderson in for runs. Luther and Sullivan both would get runs to finish off the inning.
Fort McMurray added two runs at the top of the seventh. Rose and the Dawgs answered back with a run at the bottom of the eight to go up 16-5. The Giants managed to get two more runs at the top of the ninth but it wasn't nearly enough to get past the Dawgs.
Okotoks and Fort McMurray will meet for the second of back-to-back games between the two when they face off at Seaman Stadium tomorrow at 7:05 pm.