The Parkland Expos were supposed to host the Â鶹´«Ã½AVeast Twins for a doubleheader to kick off the 2016 Saskatchewan Premier Baseball League (SPBL) season Saturday afternoon, but unfortunately an unprepared home field meant the two home games were moved to Estevan and changed to away games.
The unexpected road trip didn’t seem to bother the Expos in their first game of the regular season however, as they jumped out to a 6-0 lead after the first inning and never looked back, lambasting the Â鶹´«Ã½AVeast Twins 17-3 in a mercy-shortened five inning game to open the season.
Expos starting pitcher Tyson Black went the distance tossing all five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and one walk while striking out eight.
Josh Brown took the loss for the Twins, giving up nine runs, five of which were earned, on six hits and a walk over 2.1 innings of work.
Kyle Rathgeber led the Expos offensively in the opening game of the season going 2-for-3 with four RBI while first baseman Luke Walters went 2-for-4 with three RBI.
Chase Honan (1-for-3) drove in two runs, while Caleb Bymak (2-for-4) and Montana Johnson (0-for-3) also picked up one RBI in the win.
Game Two
Game Two proved to be every bit as disappointing as Game One was successful, as the Parkland Expos scored twice in the top of the first to take a 2-0 lead, only to see the host Twins come storming back in their half of the opening frame with seven runs.
Expo starting pitcher Kyle Rathgeber struggled in his first start of the season, failing to get out of the first inning while being tagged with the loss.
The Expo relief pitching didn’t fair much better throughout the rest of the game however, as the Twins scored seemingly at-will, picking up a pair of runs in the second inning, five in the third, one in the fourth and four in the fifth to end the game in five innings, 19-9.
Rathgeber took the loss giving up seven earned runs on four hits and two walks over 0.2 innings pitched while Luke Niemegeers picked up the win for the Twins, surrendering four runs on four hits and five walks while striking out seven Expo batters over three innings of work.
Offensively six Expo players drove in a run, as Bymak (2-for-3), Black (2-for-3), Johnson (1-for-2), Jordan Evans (2-for-4), Kaito Farquharson (1-for-2) and Gregor Farquharson (0-for-3) all picked up an RBI in the loss.
Up next
The Parkland Expos (1-1) will be in action this weekend when they travel to Lloydminster to take on the Northwest Prairie Pirates (0-0).
