Gloves Pull Off Win In Second Game of Double Header
By Robert Thomas
It was a case of three up and three down as the Moose Jaw U18 AAA Canucks defeated the visiting East Central Red Sox 13 - 3 in the second game of a Sunday afternoon double header.
It was a game where Canucks pitcher Cameron Beisel wasn’t throwing strikeouts but rather the Canucks defence and gloves came alive wracking up out after out.
It was a victory that saw the Canucks tally a 3 - 1 record in four games played over the weekend.
Cameron Beisel pitched a solid game - MJ Independent photo
Beisel’s victory - his third victory so far this season as a starter - had the words team play and assists written all over it.
The Canucks’ chucker would only wrack up one strike out and one walk as he pitched the entire six innings of the game.
“I thought they had my back a lot,” Cameron Beisel said.
Beisel would only give up three hits and three runs over six innings.
The only trouble he would get into was the top of the sixth inning where the Canucks defence would come up big with a second - first base double play.
The double play could be seen as a key turning point in the game as it broke the Red Sox’s momentum.
The Canucks in their half of the sixth inning would score six runs kicking in the 10 run mercy rule ending the game.
The Canucks have another runner advance by sliding into third base - MJ Independent photo
“The team was there for me. I’m very thankful for that,” Beisel said about the Canucks’ strong defence.
“It was amazing…they had my back as far as the pitch. I loved it.”
About the team stepping up in the sixth to eliminate any additional damage he said “the team rolling a double play was very nice.”
Asked about what he thought about his play in the game he said “it was good,” with the pitching good except for the six inning when he began to lose control.
“The sixth inning kind of got away from me a little bit.”
The sixth inning would bring out a short conference with Coach Taylor Elder. The conference was more of a pep talk and not aiming at pulling Beisel from the game.
“He said stay calm, it doesn’t matter we’ll win, the boys have got your back” was the message left at the mound.
For Beisel it’s a good feeling moving from closer to starter this season knowing the team has your back.
For Coach Taylor Elder it’s not just a name of striking out batters.
“That’s the important thing it takes three pitches to strike somebody out and it takes one or two pitches to have them ground or pop out. With pitch counts these days it’s hard to manage so if you can get an out in one pitch that’s a lot better than getting an out with three pitches,” Elder said.
“It’s a strength ours,” he said about the defence heavy game, adding “we’ve got a couple of people playing out of position right now. We’ve got a couple of injuries we’re battling through but all and all we’ve had guys making plays behind our pitchers.”
Regarding the Canucks’ batting for both games of the Sunday doubleheader Elder called it “situational hitting”.
The Canucks would hit a number doubles that ended putting a base runner on second and very quickly down to third.
“It’s nice to get doubles but once we get them we have to bring them over and bring them in,” he said.
Once again the Canucks left very little in the way of base runners stranded at the end of an inning.
“It’s something we’ve been working on. Earlier in the year we did strand quite a few runners so we’ve been focusing on that.
Sunday Game One
Canucks 10
Red Sox 8
It was a game that took a big five run sixth inning to decide who was going to pull off the victory.
At one point of the game the Red Sox were up by half a dozen runs and it looked like a Canucks loss was likely.
Moose Jaw broke through in the bottom half of the fifth scoring five runs in the victory.
Saturday Game One
Moose Jaw Canucks 5
Parkland Expos 3
The Canucks went into Yorkton on Saturday as baseball fields were finally dry enough for baseball.
The game would head into the eighth inning at which point Moose Jaw would generate sufficient batting to record the win.
Saturday Game Two
Moose Jaw Canucks 5
Parkland Expos 6
A late loss of the lead saw the Canucks fall short and lose their only game of the weekend.
The game was tied at the bottom of the sixth inning the Expos would come back with a sacrifice fly to score the win.