The Parkland Expos midget 鈥楢AA鈥� baseball team wrapped up their inaugural SPBL 鈥楢AA鈥� division campaign this past week going 2-4 over a six game stretch that saw the Expos鈥� record fall to 8-22.
Parkland edged the 麻豆传媒AVeast Legacy Twins 5-4 last Wednesday night in Melville before dropping a 10-7 decision to the Regina Athletics last Thursday.
The 鈥楢AA鈥� Expos then got plundered by the Prairie Pirates 10-0 in Saturday鈥檚 Game One before rebounding with a 3-2 victory in Game Two.
Saturday鈥檚 win proved to be the last of its kind for the Expos in the 2015 season as a Sunday road trip to Saskatoon proved fruitless with losses of 12-3 to the Saskatoon Cubs and 13-3 to the Saskatoon Giants.
The results meant that the Expos finished the season in ninth/tenth place, tied with the Swift Current Indians for last overall in the 10-team league. Muenster took home first place honours with a sparkling 24-6 record while the Saskatoon Diamondbacks finished in second place overall at 21-9.
The Saskatoon Cubs sit third with a 20-10 record while the Northwest Prairie Pirates round out the top four with a record of 18-12.
The Regina Athletics are the league鈥檚 only .500 team and finished fifth with a 15-15 record, ahead of the 麻豆传媒AVeast Legacy Twins (13-17), Regina Expos (12-18) and Saskatoon Giants (11-19) who finished in sixth, seventh and eighth respectively.
Wednesday win
Last Wednesday鈥檚 victory in Melville saw the Parkland Expos and 麻豆传媒AVeast Twins battle through a scoreless first three innings before the hometown Expos finally managed to get on the board thanks to a successful double steal by Cole Rathgeber and Tyson Black, who reached base on a single and a walk, followed by a clutch two-out single by Taylor Elmy that scored both runners.
The Twins answered right back in the top of the fifth inning with a pair of runs of their own, however the Expos quickly retook the lead in the bottom half of the inning thanks to a couple of errors by 麻豆传媒AVeast catcher Logan Dimler.
Two more Twin runs in the top of the sixth knotted the game at four, however the Expos would come through in the bottom of the seventh for a walk-off win when, with loaded bases, Expos鈥� starting pitcher Kyle Rathgeber worked 麻豆传媒AVeast鈥檚 Ryan Gaab for a two-out, full count, bases loaded walk to end the game.
Tyson Black picked up the win in relief giving up two runs on three hits and two walks over 2.2 innings of work while Kyle Rathgeber put together one of his best starts of the season giving up just two hits and three walks over four innings of work.
Cole Rathgeber was 2-for-4 to lead the Parkland offence in the win while RBIs were picked up by Kyle Rathgeber, Matt Wilgosh and Taylor Elmy.
Extra innings loss
A day after their win the Expos were flying high and looking to ride their Wednesday night momentum into Thursday鈥檚 tilt against the visiting Regina Athletics.
Unfortunately the momentum was short-lived as the Athletics scored three in the first inning and two in the third to take a 5-0 lead into the bottom of the third inning.
The Expos cut the Regina lead to two with a three spot in the third. A single run in the fourth made it 5-4 before a trio of runs in the fifth gave Parkland a 7-5 advantage.
A Brandon Kokoski homerun cut the Expo lead in half before an error by Parkland pitcher Kaito Farquharson allowed the tying run to trot home, sending the game into an extra inning.
Once there the visiting Athletics wasted no time in taking the lead with Ryker Toffan tagging his second homerun of the game and third of the season to give Regina an insurmountable lead.
The Athletics added one more for good measure as the Parkland Expos fell 10-7. Cole Rathgeber shouldered the loss giving up three runs on four hits in just one inning of work while Tannum Wyonzek led the Parkland offence with a 2-for-4, two double effort.
Weekend woes
The Thursday loss left a bitter taste in the collective mouths of the Parkland Expos, but unfortunately for the 鈥楽pos the weekend proved to taste no better with the team mustering just one win in four tries.
The weekend kicked off with a lopsided 10-0 defeat to the Northwest Prairie Pirates in a game that co-coach Aaron Elmy believes was one of the worst efforts of the season. 鈥淭hat game against the Pirates was one of our worst of the season and it was too bad the way we showed up for that game,鈥� said Elmy, continuing, 鈥淲hen you show up for a 鈥楢AA鈥� game not ready to compete then that鈥檚 what happens and what was disappointing for me was that we showed so much progress over the last four weeks.
鈥淲e were progressing, progressing and then it was a big step backwards in that game.鈥�
Kyle Rathgeber took the loss in Game One against the Pirates giving up three runs , none earned, on two hits and a walk in one inning.
Game Two saw a much better effort from the Expos as Tyson Black pitched his way to a complete game victory in a close 3-2 game that saw the Expos鈥� offence come together late in the game to score two runs in the bottom of the sixth for a 3-2 win. 鈥淭hey rebounded well in Game Two and Tyson had another dominant performance on the mound and that always helps,鈥� offered Elmy. 鈥淥ur defence was good when they had to be and our hitting was good too.
鈥淲e ended up getting runners on base in the sixth inning, then they loaded the bases to get to Kaito and he hit a double down the line to score two runs. It was an absolutely clutch hit on Kaito鈥檚 part.鈥�
The 3-2 win proved to be the only bright spot on the final weekend of regular season play however, as the Expos went to Saskatoon on Sunday where they were lambasted twice by scores of 12-3 to the Saskatoon Cubs and 13-3 to the Saskatoon Giants.
Jordan Bieber took the loss against the Cubs giving up 12 runs on nine hits and five walks while striking out just one batter while 鈥楢A鈥� call-up Grady Hawkins - making his 鈥楢AA鈥� debut 鈥� walked one and struck out one in a scoreless sixth inning.
The final game of the weekend, the 13-3 loss, saw an undermanned Expos squad struggle all over the field. Kholton Shewchuk picked up the loss surrendering nine runs (five earned) on five hits and two walks while striking out two Giant batters over one inning of work.
Next up
The next action for the Parkland Expos midget 鈥楢AA鈥� team will be this coming weekend in Melville when they host the 2015 Saskatchewan Midget 鈥楢AA鈥� Provincial championship. The Expos open the tournament up on Friday morning (8:00a.m.) against the Saskatoon Diamondbacks.
