The R. Miller midget cardinals of the Prairie Midget Baseball AAA League kicked off its 2010 baseball season in Saskatoon on mother's day weekend. On Saturday they played as double header against the Saskatoon Diamondbacks. It was a windy damp day and in the first game the home team took advantage of home field and cruised to a 12-5 victory. The second game of the twin bill behind solid pitching of Jayden Shwaga, Ben Walchuk and Brett Kobelka the Cards cruised to a 13-3 victory. Dylan Toffan led the way with three runs and Zach Rakochy, Jayden Shwaga and Travis Schmidt scored two runs each. Beau Swan drove in three of these runs.
On Mother's Day Sunday with strong pitching by Tanner Nesbitt, Jason Blommaert, Jordan Haas and Kobelka defeated the Saskatoon Cubs 4-2. Travis Schmidt and Troy Waggoner scored 2 runs each, In the second game. In the second game behind Logan Parachoniak getting the win the cards defeated the cubs 6-3. Troy Waggoner pitched three shutout innings and Brett Kobelka came on first his second save of the day.
On the weekend of May 15-16, the Cards traveled to a tournament in the Nipawin on Saturday and Melfort on Sunday. In game one against the Lloydminster Twins they played flawless ball and won 6-0. Schmidt, Waggoner and Haas combined on a seven- inning no-hitter. Murray Polegi slapped out two hits and the runs with two apiece were scored by Shwaga, Nesbitt and Matt Leshchyshyn.
Game 2 was a rescheduled rained out league game against Moose Jaw. Moose Jaw used there ace pitcher Mike Millar who is part of the Saskatchewan provincial team. In the game of the day Miller held Yorkton to three runs but the pitching tandem of Shwaga and Nesbitt only allowed two in a close 3-2 victory for R. Miller. Waggoner singled in the sixth inning for the go ahead run.
On Sunday, the Cards were off to Melfort for the second day of the Northeast tournament. They began the day against Moose Jaw for the second game of the league rainout. Moose Jaw threw out the second ace who is part of the national team of Canada, the Cards weren't fazed and jumped out to quick lead on an RBI by Swan. Leads switched back and forth before the cards took a 6-5 lead in the sixth when Walchuk was advanced by Polegi and scored on a miscue by the moose Jaw second baseman. Rakochy led the way with three hits and two RBIs. Nesbitt crossed the plate three times. Parachoniak and Blommaert pitched a strong and Toffan came on for the save.
The second game was anti climatic as the Cards knew they had the tournament won. The played the host Northeast team and started slowly. After the host team took a 2-1 lead in the fifth the cards came roaring back with six runs in their half of the fifth and won 7-2.
Leshchyshyn, Haas and Toffan were strong on the mound.
After two weeks the R. Miller Cardinals are 7-1. In the Prairie Midget Ball AAA League they are 5-1 and lead the league. Their next action is long weekend at a tournament in Moose Jaw. The team would like to show their appreciation R. Miller plumbing who has been a gracious sponsor.
