The Estevan Sherritt Coal Haulers' home opener was a month late in arriving but, when it did, it proved worth the wait for the team and its fans alike.The Haulers rallied from a 4-3 deficit with six runs in the sixth inning and weathered a late Weyburn rally to hold on for a 9-8 win in Baseball Regina bantam AAA league action Friday at Cactus Park.Estevan's sixth-inning fireworks were sparked by three singles, two doubles, and four walks as the Haulers batted around their entire lineup."We finally just started hitting the ball," said Haulers head coach Mason Schick. "That's been our big thing all year is we've been leaving too many runners on base."I can't even count the number of times we've left two runners on, three runners on, and you're not going to win many ball games leaving that many runners on base."First-year bantam Austin Kuchinka scored the Haulers' first run of the sixth when the Weyburn catcher dropped the ball while tagging him out at home. Even with the run on the board Kuchinka showed remorse for rounding third in the first place, but the close call seemed to spark his teammates.The Haulers showed patience at the plate and were rewarded when five of their next seven batters also crossed home."That always helps when you can steal a run like that," said Schick. "Those can turn a ball game either way. If that's us defensively, that's a huge blow."The Haulers were led offensively by Austin Orsted and Mike Fischer. Orsted reached base in all four plate appearances, stealing four bases, and scoring once, while Fischer finished with his first three RBIs of the season.After improving to 4-3 with Friday's win, the Haulers travelled to Regina on Sunday for a doubleheader with the hometown Buffalos.Estevan showed its pitching depth, getting four strong innings in the first game from Lucas Lafrentz and in the second game from Jolan Lingelbach, but were overpowered by an even deeper Regina staff.Tied 4-4 after five innings in Game 1, the Haulers finished the game with 14 strikeouts at the plate and an 8-4 loss.They threatened in the third and fourth innings of Game 2 but could not generate any sustained momentum and fell 14-6."It's unbelievable how deep their pitching rotation goes," Schick said of the Buffalos. "It seemed like every person they brought onto the mound was throwing hard, throwing strikes. We hadn't seen pitching of that calibre this year."Most teams at this level have one or two guys like that and for a team to have five or six pitchers like the Buffs have is pretty incredible. So definitely when we see we're in a ball game like that, that's pretty good."The Haulers' next scheduled league games are June 17 at home against Weyburn (2-6) and June 20 when they are in Yorkton to face the hometown Cardinals (0-6).
