Despite a strong performance on the mound from starting pitcher Angel Rios, the Weyburn Beavers came up short Wednesday night, falling 9-3 to the visiting Fort McMurray Giants.
Rios would come out of the gate strong, with four strikeouts in the first two innings of the game. He would finish up five innings of work with six strikeouts. The 6th inning, though, would prove to be his undoing. He was tagged with six runs, four earned, in the game, including four in the 6th as he was credited with the loss.
Brett Paterson pitched one inning in relief, giving up three earned runs on two hits and walking three.
The pitching for the Beavers would be near perfect after that, with Jared Hall, Mason Fichter and Ethan Webster finishing off the game. The trio would each pitch an inning, each striking out one batter with Hall giving up just one hit.
The nine-run deficit, though, would prove too much for the Beavers to recover from.
Weyburn would score a run in the seventh, when Ryan Muizelaar, after reaching base with a triple, would be brought home on a sacrifice fly by Trent Lawson.
In the eighth, Jaxson Davis scored after he ran from first to home on a Ryan Dauphinee single. Then Muizelaar would be cashed in for the second time by Lawson, this time with a double to left field.
Muizelaar wasn't the only Beaver to hit a triple in the game, with Triston Madison also hitting a three-bagger. His hit came in the second inning. Dauphinee and Lawson had the doubles for the Beavers in the loss.
The Beavers will look to rebound after the loss Thursday night as they host the Giants once again in the final game of their four-game homestand. The first pitch at Tom Laing Park is at 7:05 p.m.