NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN
Medicine Hat K of C Knights outfielder Ben van der Sloot swings and misses during his team's A American Legion Baseball doubleheader against the Lewiston Redbirds on Saturday, June 29, 2019 at Jeffries Park.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
The Medicine Hat K of C Knights refused to go quietly on Saturday evening at Jeffries Field.
While the Knights were ultimately swept in a doubleheader to the Lewiston Redbirds, 13-8 and 11-9, head coach Lane Aman says the all-around effort proved there’s simply no quit in the young ball club.
“That’s exactly how it goes, they don’t quit because they just don’t know anything other than to keep hitting, keep chipping away and keep playing the game,” said Aman. “It’s funny, they have a lot of fun in the dugout and sometimes it seems like they’re not even aware they’re down by so many, the way they carry themselves in the dugout. It’s a fun team to be around, for sure.”
Lewiston jumped all over the Knights early in the first game, racking up a 12-3 lead through the first three innings then stretching the gap to 10 runs – leaving the mercy rule hanging over Medicine Hat’s head entering the home half of the fifth – but the Knights dug in at the dish and split the deficit in half to force a full-seven inning contest.
“We really stepped in and tried to just take charge. Our bats were really helping us in that one inning,” said Knights outfielder Josh Stark, who went 2-for-4 with 3 RBI in Game 1. “We’re good at coming back sometimes late in the game, but that can really hurt us early.”
While the Knights made promising contact on a regular basis, Lewiston made the most of their defensive opportunities with a number of loud outs in RBI situations and a few line-drive double plays to snuff out rallies.
“We hit the ball hard. A couple base-running blunders did cost us and we’ve got to clean that up,” said Aman. “We work a lot on our base-running so it’s frustrating to see those blunders, but we’ve got a really young team so these mistakes, we understand they happen a lot and if we can just let our bats do their thing we should give ourselves a chance.”
Lewiston scored the bulk of their runs in the first game by putting a handful of extra-base hits over the heads of Medicine Hat’s outfielders, but Stark says his squad did well to adjust – holding the Redbirds to just one run over the final four innings.
“We had a few balls hit over our centre-fielder’s head but we really adjusted to that,” he said. “Our hits were pretty good, we just kept hitting line drives.”
Knights catcher Kaitlyn Ross was forced to leave the first game after taking a bouncing pitch to the throat on a block, though she returned to action for the second contest.
“If the game wasn’t a 10-run game at the time we would have kept her in there,” said Aman. “I asked her if she was fine and she wanted to stay in the game obviously. I had to remind her that we have five bench players and we were down 10 … I pretty much had to force her out of the game.”
Lewiston starter Cody Henderson collected the Game 1 win after holding Medicine Hat to three runs on seven hits through 3 2/3. Knights starter Hayden Hall settled for the loss after allowing seven runs on five hits through one inning.
Evan Morrison had 2 RBI in a 1-for-3 outing while Cale Ferguson was 3-for-3 with an RBI.
Medicine Hat came through with a stronger effort in Game 2, but again they were forced to play from behind after allowing 10 runs over the first three innings. Again the Knights held the Redbirds to one run over the final four frames, but they were unable to close the gap despite a five-run rally in the seventh.
Stark led the Knights with another 3 RBI in a 2-for-3 outing, while Carter Krauss was 2-for-4 with 1 RBI.
Knights starting pitcher Kobe Coderre settled for the loss in Game 2, allowing six runs on two hits through the first 2/3 of an inning.
Lane Melton collected the victory for Lewiston, limiting Medicine Hat to three runs on one hit through 2 1/3.
The Knights host the Lethbridge Miners in a doubleheader tonight at Athletic Park. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
Monarchs drop two
In Helena Monday, the Moose Monarchs dropped both games to the host Senators, 9-8 and 11-1.
In the opener, Medicine Hat got four runs including a 2-run double from Drew Niwa, but gave up six in the third and couldn’t pull back. Reese Whelen took the loss going three innings.
Helena kept the foot on the gas pedal in the second game, putting up eight runs on starter Wyatt Study including a two-run home run from Ryan Barrett in the third inning. The Monarchs’ only offence came on a fourth-inning RBI single from Whelen.
Hunter Kirkpatrick held Medicine Hat to six hits in a complete game, striking out four and walking none.
The Monarchs finish their three-game set in Helena today before heading to Spokane for a tournament starting Thursday.
