The Parkland 鈥楢AA鈥� Expos opened their inaugural Saskatchewan Premier Baseball League (SPBL) season up with a pair of road games Saturday afternoon in Swift Current against the hometown Indians.
Game One saw Jordan Bieber take to the mound for his first start of the season and first official game since picking up the win over Asia-Pacific for Team Canada in relief at the 2014 Senior Little League World Series in Bangor, Maine, last year.
Unfortunately Bieber could not replicate his success to start the season as Swift Current took advantage of the rust to score four runs off of the Parkland starter thru just 1.1 innings of work in which he gave up four runs on two hits and five walks while striking out one.
First year midget pitcher Kaito Farquharson took over in relief for Bieber, keeping the Indians off of the scoreboard for the rest of the second inning and all of the third while the Expos managed to push one across the plate in the top of the third to make it a 4-1 Swift Current lead.
The Indians would score one run off of Farquharson in the fourth to increase their lead to 5-1, however a three run top of the fifth for Parkland cut the Swift Current lead to just one at 5-4.
Farquharson ran into some trouble in the bottom of the fifth inning. After getting the first out Farquharson walked two and had one reach base on an error before being replaced by Caleb Bymak on the mound.
Bymak quickly ran into some control problems of his own allowing two Swift Current runners to cross the plate before finally recording the final out of the inning and after five complete innings Swift Current led 9-4.
But that lead was short lived as the Expos scored five runs, all with two out, in the top of the sixth inning to tie the game up at nine.
However they still needed one more run; something they could not get as the hometown Indians held the Expos off the scoreboard in the top of the seventh before picking up the walkoff win in the bottom of the seventh on an Andrew Garland single that scored Taylor Bowers. Final score 10-9 for Swift Current.
Bymak shouldered the loss for the Expos tossing 2.1 innings while surrendering two runs on four hits and a walk and striking out two.
Cole Rathgeber led the offence with a 4-for-5 game with five RBIs while Bymak (2-for-3, two walks) and Black (1-for-4) both picked up two RBIs in the loss.
Game Two saw the Expos get the pitching that they needed in Game One as Tyson Black stymied the Swift Current hitters all game long, keeping them scoreless in five of the seven innings while the top of the lineup came through for Parkland in a 4-3 victory.
Black got the complete game win going seven innings and allowing just three runs on six hits and a walk while striking out seven. Bymak went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs in the win.
Following the games co-coach Tony Black told Yorkton This Week that a slow start was expected, although a loss was not. 鈥淕oing up to a higher calibre of ball with kids that haven鈥檛 played ball together before. It was a big transition for our first game. There is some rust out there and you can see that with some players, especially with the hitting and some of the fielding, but all in all they did pretty well for their first game of the season,鈥� said Black, adding that the fact that the players are still not completely familiar with one another also hurts the team chemistry. 鈥淭he biggest thing with those guys is that they don鈥檛 know each other. They don鈥檛 know what they鈥檙e capabilities and potential are and some of them are adjusting to new positions and that鈥檚 tough to do at the start of a season.鈥�
But while the chemistry may not be at the level they need it to be right now, the positive thing is that the hitting seems to be up to par. 鈥淥verall our hitting was good. Cole Rathgeber was a big hitter for us. He went 4-for-5 with four singles in the first game,鈥� offered Black, continuing, 鈥淭he second game we had the top of our lineup come up clutch and that鈥檚 what we need out of them.鈥�
鈥楢A鈥� Expos
The Parkland 鈥楢A鈥� Expos also started off their 2015 campaign in the SPBL鈥檚 AA鈥� Division this past weekend by welcoming the defending midget 鈥楢A鈥� provincial champion Northeast Red Sox to town for a twin-bill.
Game One saw the very young 鈥楢A鈥� Expos, who dressed five bantam players, fall behind by five runs after 1.5 innings, however a seven run outburst in the bottom of the second inning gave the 鈥楢A鈥� Expos their first lead of the game at 7-5.
Unfortunately the Red Sox and their veteran bench proved to be too much in Game One as they scored multiple runs in every inning to take Game One 20-9 thanks in large part to five errors.
The 鈥楢A鈥� Expo defence was better in the second half of the doubleheader going errorless in Game Two, however an 11 run second inning for the visitors proved to be the downfall in a 15-5 defeat.
Players of the Game for the Expos were third baseman Grayson Neufeld who went 2-for-3 with a walk in the first game while the Player of the Game for Game Two went to relief pitcher Austin Hilderman, who allowed just one run on four hits and four walks over two innings of work.
Next action
The Parkland 鈥楢AA鈥� Expos were in Regina last night to take on the Regina Athletics, however results were unavailable at press time. The next action for the Parkland 鈥楢AA鈥� Expos will this Sunday, May 10 when they host the Swift Current Indians for a doubleheader at Melville鈥檚 Pirie Field. Game One is scheduled to begin at 2:00p.m.
The next action for the 鈥楢A鈥� Expos is this Saturday, May 9 when they host the Moose Jaw Canucks. First pitch for Game One is set for 1:00p.m. at Pirie Field in Melville.
