NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN
Hat High Mohawks' Felix Miller drives a triple into right-centre field during a Southern Alberta High School Baseball League doubleheader against the Notre Dame Hounds at Jeffries Park on Saturday, May 11, 2019.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
The Hat High Mohawks varsity baseball team is running hot at the right time.
After picking up a comfortable doubleheader sweep of the Notre Dame Hounds Saturday with 9-3 and 12-3 victories at Jeffries Park, the Mohawks enter their final three games of the regular season on a three-game winning streak in the Southern Alberta High School Baseball League.
“I think the guys understand the importance of these next couple games and what it means for seeding going into provincials,” said head coach Lyall Foran, whose Mohawks sit at 5-2 on the season with the weekend victories. “I think the focus is starting to come up a little bit and we’re executing in the situations that we need to be.”
The Mohawks traveled south to San Diego last month to compete in the Lions Baseball Tournament and build some chemistry as a unit. While they left the tournament without collecting a victory, Hat High’s Ashtyn Street says they returned to Canada with a wealth of experience that’s been translating into success on the local diamonds.
“We got a lot of extra games down there and a lot of kind of different baseball. We got to view it a bit differently and we definitely learned a lot that we could bring back to our game here,” said Street, who collected the 9-3 victory over Notre Dame Saturday after holding the Hounds to three runs on five hits with six strikeouts through 4 and 1/3 innings. “There were a lot of good teams. They played a lot of very clean baseball – they didn’t bobble the ball too much – they were really on it down there. That helped us kind of pick our level up a bit.”
While the result in San Diego wasn’t what they were hoping, Foran added the learning experience seems to have given his players a new level of composure within their own league.
“It’s really kind of gotten us ready for that last push here toward the end of the season,” said Foran. “I think they’re just a little bit more comfortable in the box. They have some good approaches now. They kind of understand situational hitting a little bit more and the importance of it.”
The Mohawks put some of that situational hitting to solid use in Saturday’s doubleheader sweep, but Foran says defence played an equal role in locking down the back-to-back wins.
“Pitching and defence, that’s what wins ball games. We were just lucky enough that our bats came around and had a good performance,” he said. “I think pitching was a big key for us. Obviously we were able to hold them down a little bit. They can be a very good offensive team at times, so credit to our pitchers, and defensively we were able to make plays for our pitchers.”
Tory Nelson held Notre Dame to two runs on four hits with three strikeouts through four innings to follow up Street’s efforts and collect the win in Game 2. Kayden Hleucka took the hill to close out the game, limiting the Hounds to one run on four hits through three frames.
Josh Stark closed out the opener by holding Notre Dame to a single hit through the final 2 and 2/3 innings.
Nelson and Felix Miller shared the offensive load in Game 1, collecting two hits and 3 RBI apiece, while Ethan Wagner, Kobe Coderre and Austin Moch each added an RBI to round out the scoring.
Brendan Kerr drove in all three runs for the Hounds in a 2-for-3 performance. Vaugh Wilgosh settled for the loss after allowing two runs on four hits in 3 and 1/3 innings of relief work.
Coderre led the way for Hat High in the second game with 3 RBI in a 2-for-4 outing. Stark followed up with 2 RBI, while Miller, Lane Rempel, Jordan Hieb, Hayden Hall and Ethan Wagner each added 1 RBI in the victory. Hleucka went 3-for-4 from the leadoff slot.
“Sometimes we’ve kind of struggled to attack early but today we actually did it fairly well and we ended up coming out on top in both games,” said Street, whose Mohawks racked up an 8-0 lead through three innings in Game 1 then went up 8-1 after three frames in Game 2.
Shane Collins and Trey Olson-Deobald led the Hounds with two hits and 1 RBI in the setback, dropping Notre Dame to 3-7. Avery Kirkup took the loss after allowing 12 runs on 16 hits through six innings.
The Mohawks head to Vauxhall Tuesday to take on the Vikings (7-1), then make the trip to Brooks Wednesday to face the Bombers (2-5) before returning to McCoy Field Thursday to face the Eagle Butte Talons (1-6) in their regular season finale.
Colts split set with Hounds
The McCoy Colts moved to 6-3 on the SAHSBL season with a doubleheader split against the Hounds on Friday night at Jeffries Park.
After dropping a 20-11 contest to kick off the evening, the Colts rebounded to take 16-10 victory thanks in part to a 4 RBI out of Kayden Berndt and 3 RBI from Reese Whelen.
Jaden Schwindt collected the victory after starting the game for McCoy and limiting Notre Dame to six runs on four hits with four strikeouts through 4 and 1/3 innings of work.
Whelen went 4-for-5 in the victory. Cole Rath went 3-for-4 with 2 RBI and Joel Herron added 2 RBI in a 2-for-4 outing. Ty Olinski drove in another pair in a 1-for-3 effort.
Julien Ducharme took the loss for Notre Dame, allowing 11 runs on seven hits through the first 1 and 2/3 innings. Kirkup led the Hounds offence with 2 RBI in a 2-for-5 effort.
Colts starter Ty Brooks settled for the opening loss after allowing 13 runs on nine hits through 2 and 1/3 innings. When led the offence with 4 RBI in a perfect 4-for-4 outing, but it wasn’t enough to close the gap.
Kaitlyn Ross collected the complete-game victory after holding McCoy to 11 runs on 15 hits through all seven innings of work. Kirkup drove in 4 RBI in a 3-for-5 showing at the dish.
