HYankees back in win column
The Yorkton Yankees put an end to their losing streak before it could really even begin, following up their first loss of the season with a pair of wins 鈥� 8-4 over the Roblin Stars and 6-0 over the rival Willowbrook Royals 鈥� to move to 4-1 on the season, good enough for second place behind the 5-2 Canora Supers.
Young Yankee pitcher Austin Karcha got his first start of the season Tuesday against the Roblin Stars and made good of it, picking up the win, allowing two earned runs on four hits and four walks while striking out four before handing the ball over to Jake Holinaty, who went the remaining two innings giving up two runs on two hits.
Holinaty also drove in a pair of runs while going 1-for-4 on the night, while Benny Walchuk led all Yankees offensively going 2-for-3 with a walk, three RBI and two stolen bases.
Following the game Yankee bench boss Mark Jacobs told Yorkton This Week that the game against the Stars was a great chance to get some underused pitchers some playing time while at the same time resting their ace Logan Calanchie. 鈥淚t was a nice opportunity to get a good look at a couple of our pitchers that we haven鈥檛 been able to get on the mound yet, Austin Karcha and Jake Holinaty,鈥� mentioned Jacobs, continuing, 鈥淚t was nice to throw them in a game and see what they had and they both pitched fairly well and we didn鈥檛 have to throw Logan Calanchie so it was nice to give him a bit of a break.鈥�
On Friday the Yankees were back in action, and so was Calanchie, as Yorkton hosted the Willowbrook Royals.
The Yankees got off to a strong start plating two in the first and three in the second to jump out to a 5-0 lead; more than enough for Calanchie, who put together one of his best starts in recent memory, allowing just one Royal runner to reach base over seven innings while striking out nine in a 6-0 Yorkton win. 鈥淟ogan pitched great again for us, and it was actually surprising even for his standards,鈥� mentioned Jacobs, adding that a win over Willowbrook is always more enjoyable than other victories. 鈥淲e always get up for the Willowbrook games because we play each other a lot throughout the season and in important games so it鈥檚 always interesting games for sure and I鈥檓 sure Logan is no different and gets up for those games, so he pitched very well.鈥�
Kurt Karcha led the Yankees offensively driving in a pair of runs while going 1-for-4 while MacKenzie Unyi went 1-for-3 at the dish but walked twice and scored three of the six Yorkton runs in the win.
Yorkton (4-1) now finds themselves in second place in the SESBL, one win back of the league leading Canora Supers (5-2) and one win ahead of third place Langenburg (3-0).
Roblin (1-4), Russell (1-3) and Willowbrook (1-2) are all tied for fourth, fifth and sixth, with the Swan River Reds (0-3) rounding out the standings in last place.
The Yankees took on the 2015 Masters (44 and older) provincial champion Parkland Padres last night, however results were unavailable at press time.
The Yankees will be back in action next Tuesday, June 3, when they take on the Yorkton Midget Cardinals in exhibition action.
