If all baseball games could be played like the three games between the North Battleford Beavers and Wilkie Brewers in the first round of the North Saskatchewan River Baseball League, it would be an exciting, gut-wrenching part of anyone's summer.
The North Battleford Beavers and Wilkie went the distance playing all three games. Fortunately for the Brewers the home team won each time. All three games were decided by one or two runs and both teams enjoyed strong pitching throughout the series.
After losing game one in Wilkie, Aaron Huber was back on the mound for the Beavers in game two. Tuesday in North Battleford, Wilkie hit the ball well for the first three-innings, but after that Huber all but shut down the offence. Runners reached base, but he left them stranded throughout the later innings.
Wilkie's Russ Nielsen was on the mound and cruising early. Eventually the Brewers made some defensive mistakes that the Beavers capitalized on with some clutch hitting to take the lead. Brad Eischen hit a two-run homer while Kyle Gregoire later hit a solo shot. The Beavers grabbed a 7-5 win with Huber and Neilsen pitching complete games.
Wednesday, back in Wilkie, Gregoire was on the mound for the Beavers and up against Wilkie's Brad Frehlich.
Both pitchers kept their opponents at bay in the early going, as neither team had runners past second base in the first two innings. When the Beavers did reach base, Frehlich picked them off first, as he recorded three pickoffs in one game.
The Brewers however did build and led 3-1 going into the sixth inning. Frehlich started the sixth and once the first two batters reached base Barrett Nielsen was brought in for relief.
The Beavers scored once in the sixth inning, but Wilkie answered with two of their own in the sixth inning including an RBI double by Rick Cey down the third base line to score Wilkie's fourth run.
Wilkie led 5-3 heading into the final inning. Nielsen allowed one run in the seventh and had a runner on third base before recording the final out on a broken bat ground ball back to the pitcher's mound.
The first round exit ends the Beavers' season, as they were eliminated from A provincials on the weekend.
Wilkie will wait to see who they will face in round two. If Meadow Lake beat Unity Thursday, the Brewers will face Meadow Lake. If Unity wins, the Brewers will face either the Border City Blue Jays or the Lloydminster Junior Redhawks, depending on who wins that series.
The Border City Blue Jays won game one of the series Wednesday by a 2-1 score over the Junior Redhawks.
Game two was scheduled for Thursday.
Other games Wednesday had Meadow Lake and Unity split a double header, as the teams faced off in North Battleford under the lights at Beaver Lions Stadium. Meadow Lake won 7-5 while the Unity Cardinals won 10-5.
Game three was scheduled for Thursday in Meadow Lake.
As the second place Brewers moved on, so too did the first place Lloydminster Meridian Twins. The undefeated Twins beat the Lloydminster Midget Twins 9-1 Monday and 3-1 Tuesday to advance to the second round.
