The Innisfail Indians battled Mother Nature and tough pitching en route to a 1 and 1 record in Parkland Baseball League action last week.
Rainy weather played havoc with the Indians two games – a home contest against the Eckville Angels on May 25 and a rain-shortened game against the Razorbacks in Red Deer on May 27.
In their opening game of the week, the Indians blew a late lead for the second straight game, before rallying for five runs in the bottom of the seventh to beat Eckville 10-9.
With a steady rain falling throughout most of the game, the Angels got to Indians pitcher Kyle Burkitt early, scoring one in the first and two in the second to take an early 3-0 lead.
In the home half of the second the Indians responded, loading the bases with none out. Jesse Shunert’s groundout to first plated Steve Reaman with the Indians’ first run, before Brennan Nirolay drove in two more, driving a double to deep left field.
The Indians took the lead in the bottom of the third thanks to a one-out, two-run home run to left by Jay Kirkham, making the score 5-3 for Innisfail heading into the fourth.
After cutting into the Indians’ lead in the top of the fifth, the Angels rallied to tie the game 5-5 in the sixth.
In the top of the seventh, the Angels broke the game open, scoring four runs on one hit, four walks and an error.
Angels pitcher Brandon Dixon, who came into the game with one out in the third, held the Indians hitless heading into the bottom of the seventh.
Desmond Bouteiller started the rally leading off the inning, fouling off three straight pitches before lining a single up the middle. Walks to Damon Dreeshan and Darcy Neilson then loaded the bases with none out. After Reaman struck out, Kirkham’s single past a diving SS drove in Bouteiller to cut the lead to three. Steven Bouteiller came in as a pinch hitter. Dixon’s first pitch to Bouteiller found the dirt, allowing Dreeshan to score and Neilson and Kirkham to advance. Bouteiller’s grounder into the hole at second brought in Neilson with the inning’s third run. After Dixon hit Schunert to load the bases, Nirolay’s fly ball to centre plated Kirkham with the tying run. Blaine Hoppings played the hero, blooping a single into no man’s land behind short to score Schunert with the winning run.
In the week’s finale the Razorbacks got to Indians pitcher Riley Wik early and often, scoring two in the first and six in the second en route to handing the Indians their first loss of the season.
Red Deer’s Tom Rodzinyak was stellar, holding the Indians to one hit through four innings.
With the Razorbacks at the plate in the bottom of the fourth, the game was delayed due to heavy rain and lightning in the area. When the skies cleared 30 minutes later, Red Deer players worked for 10 minutes in an attempt to clear standing water from the base paths. After a brief conversation with the team captains, the umpiring crew called the game – giving the Razorbacks the win.
Steven Bouteiller said Rodzinyak is a tough pitcher who held their offence in check throughout the game.
“We’re a good hitting team – we just have to wake it up,” Bouteiller lamented after the game.
The Indians, who sit in first place in the PBL’s South Division, travel to Lacombe tomorrow night for a match up with the Dodgers.
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