The midget 鈥楢AA鈥� Parkland Expos opened up weekend play with a pair of lopsided losses to the Saskatoon Diamondbacks on Saturday afternoon in Melville, falling to the D-backs by mercy rule scores of 16-4 and 14-4 to extend their losing streak to 13 games and drop their record to an abysmal 3-15.
But just one day later the Expos managed to pick up their first regular season win in over a month, dropping the visiting Saskatoon Cubs 3-1 in Sunday鈥檚 Game One in Yorkton.
The Expos then made it a series sweep against the Cubs, sending the baby bears home with their second consecutive defeat this time 8-5.
The 2-2 record throughout the weekend leaves the Expos with a 5-15 record, good enough for second last in the 10-team SPBL 鈥楢AA鈥櫬� Division ahead of the basement dwelling Saskatoon Giants (2-11).
Muenster continues to lead the league with a sparkling 16-2 record followed by the Saskatoon Diamondbacks (14-5), Regina Expos (10-7) and Regina Athletics (10-9).
The Saskatoon Cubs currently sit in fifth place with a 7-7 record while the 麻豆传媒AVeast Legacy Twins (8-9), Northwest Prairie Pirates (8-10) and Swift Current Indians (6-11) round out the top eight.
Slaughtered on Saturday
Saturday was a day that the Parkland Expos 鈥楢AA鈥� team would like to forget as the visiting Saskatoon Diamondbacks made short work of the Expos, crushing Parkland by scores of 16-4 in Game One and 14-4 in Game Two.
Kholton Shewchuk took the loss for the Expos in Game One lasting just two innings and giving up five runs (all earned) on four hits and three walks while striking out just one batter.
The Rathgeber twins Cole and Kyle led the Expos offence in Game One as the brothers went a combined 5-for-5 at the dish with Kyle going 3-for-3 with a double and Cole going 2-for-2 with a triple, a walk and two RBIs.
Game Two against the D-backs went much the same way as Game One as Saskatoon once again chased the Parkland starting pitcher from the game after just two innings as Caleb Bymak picked up the loss for the Expos surrendering nine runs (seven earned) on seven hits and five walks while striking out three Saskatoon batters in the loss.
First year midget player Kaito Farquharson did the mop up work pitching the next three innings giving up five runs (all earned) on five hits and three walks while striking out three. Offensively the Expos struggled in Game Two even more than they did in the first game as just two players 鈥� Shewchuk and Tannum Wyonzek 鈥� managed to register a hit. 鈥淣othing was working for us,鈥� Parkland Expos co-coach Tony Black told Yorkton This Week following the two games. 鈥淓verything struggled, pitching, defence and offence. It was pretty much all of it.
鈥淥ur pitchers weren鈥檛 hitting their spots and our offence struggled and we didn鈥檛 score many runs. On the other side the D-backs are a good team, they鈥檙e a very gritty team and they play well. When they鈥檙e down in the count the battle back and then put the ball in play and they did that in both games.鈥�
Sweet Sunday
Saturday may have been the lowest point of the 鈥楢AA鈥� Expo season so far, however Sunday was one of the highest points as the Expos managed to put an end to their 13 game losing streak by virtue of a 3-1 victory over the visiting Saskatoon Cubs at Yorkton鈥檚 Pirie Field.
Sunday鈥檚 Game One started off with a pitcher鈥檚 duel as Parkland鈥檚 Tyson Black went toe-to-toe with Saskatoon鈥檚 Carter Boehm as both pitchers kept the opposing offences off balance for the first four innings of the game.
Black continued his brilliance in the top half of the fifth inning, quickly sitting down the Cub batters to send his team to the plate in the bottom of the fifth where the Expos finally managed to break through on a Taylor Elmy double that scored both Caleb Bymak and AP call-up Zach Goulden-Maddin to give Parkland a 2-0 lead.
The Saskatoon Cubs managed to cut the Expos lead in half in the top of the sixth with a single run, however the Expos regained their two run cushion in their half of the sixth on a Shewchuk sacrifice fly.
The Expos then shut down the Cubs in the top of the seventh to pick up their fourth victory of the season. Black picked up the win with a complete game effort in which he gave up just two hits and one unearned run while walking three and striking out 11 over seven innings of work.
Cole Rathgeber (2-for-3, triple) and Goulden-Maddin (2-for-2) led the Expos offence with two hits apiece while Elmy and Shewchuk picked up the RBIs in the win.
The Parkland Expos followed the Game One victory up with their second straight win in Game Two as they built an early 8-1 lead through three innings, including a five run second inning in which they chased Saskatoon starter Nick Hillman from the game, before holding off the Cubs to secure the 8-5 win. 鈥淚n that second inning they struggled with their pitching and the guys took advantage of their lefty and just never looked back,鈥� offered Tony Black, continuing, 鈥渟ome of our guys started hitting the ball, others got walked and we never looked back from there.鈥�
Cole Rathgeber picked up his second win of the season on the mound as he gave up five runs (four earned) on eight hits and three walks while striking out five over 5.2 innings of work before handing the ball over to twin brother Kyle who picked up the save, tossing the remaining 1.1 innings.
Bymak led the 鈥楢AA鈥� Expos offence in Game Two going 2-for-3 with a triple and three RBIs while Cole Rathgeber (1-for-4), Black (0-for-3, walk) and Kholton Shewchuk (2-for-3) also picked up RBIs in the win.
Next action
The next action for the Parkland Expos midget 鈥楢AA鈥� team will be this Saturday when they host the Saskatoon Giants at Yorkton鈥檚 Jubilee Park for two games. Game One is set for 1:00p.m. while Game Two goes shortly after the completion of Game One.
