The Weyburn Beavers were looking to bring the success from Tuesday night’s win over the Moose Jaw Miller Express into their games against the Fort McMurray Giants Wednesday and Thursday nights at Tom Laing Park. The Beavers, though, would run into some strong pitching from the Giants and would end up dropping both of the games.
Wednesday night, the Beavers were held to just five hits, as the Giants came away with a 7-1 victory. The game would stay close until the eighth inning when Fort McMurray scored five runs.
The lone run for the Beavers in that game came on a fielder’s choice in the 1st inning, as Nolan Machibroda drove in the run.
On the mound, Jared Miller went seven innings, allowing two runs on seven hits while striking out seven. Brayden Mayencourt pitched the eighth inning, allowing five runs, one earned, while striking out one and walking two. Cole McGregor finished the game off, striking out one batter.
Thursday night, fans at Tom Laing Park were treated to a bit of a pitcher’s duel.
Both teams opted to start from the bullpen, with starters then coming in for the third inning to finish off the game.
Weyburn opted to have Ben Franz start the game, and he would go one inning, allowing two runs on two hits while striking out one. Then, Zach Dobson pitched the second inning, and while he allowed three walks, he didn’t surrender any runs.
From there, Josh Wintroub took over for the Beavers. He allowed one run on four hits while striking out nine in 5 2/3 innings of work. Mason Fichter then finished off the game for the Beavers. In his debut, going for 1 1/3 innings, he allowed one run on one hit.
Fort McMurray’s pitchers would combine for 13 strikeouts, and limited the Beavers to just one hit on the night.
That one hit for the Beavers came off the bat of catcher Cooper Walbaum in the first inning. Called up this week from the 18U AAA Southeast Twins, along with Fichter, Walbaum smacked a single in the opening inning that cashed in both runs for the Beavers.
The Beavers will now get set for a stretch of nine games in eight nights to close out the WCBL regular season. They will play the Medicine Hat Mavericks at home Saturday and Sunday, before a pair of games in Regina Monday and Tuesday. The final home game will be Wednesday when Regina comes to Tom Laing Park. The Beavers then finish off the season on the road with two games in Medicine Hat, and then a doubleheader in Swift Current next Saturday.