The midget AAA Cardinals moved up a weight class to play the big boys at the St. Albert Tigers Tournament.
The Cardinals – 17-3 in the Norwest league and 22-7 overall – have a puncher’s chance in the heavyweight ranks today against the Calgary Longhorns at 11 a.m. and the senior AAA Tigers (2-6) of the Sunburst circuit at 8 p.m. and Sunday against the Blue Willow Angels, who are basically the Edmonton Blackhawks (5-2) of the North Central senior AA league, at 11 a.m.
If the Cardinals emerge from the Waples division unscathed they would battle the top team in the Young division – Sherwood Park Athletics (3-4), the reigning senior AAA provincial champions, or Red Deer Riggers of Sunburst league, the junior AAA South Jasper Place Jays (11-1) or SEEBA (13-4), last year’s midget AAA provincial winner – in Sunday’s 2 p.m. final at Legion Memorial Park.
“It will be fun playing some older guys to get us ready for the end of the year. We’ll face some good pitching and probably some good hitters as well,” said pitcher/third baseman Tylor Jans, a third-year midget AAA Red Bird.
The provincial contenders are anxious to throw strikes and hit for power after last weekend’s subpar showing against the Oil Giants (10-11) in Fort McMurray. Losses of 1-0 and 10-7 were followed by Sunday’s 7-0 win by the first-place Norwest team.
“It was pretty disappointing. We should’ve won all three, we just came up short,” Jans said. “We struggled with the team plan. We weren’t sticking to our game of line drives and playing a simple game of baseball.”
Jans went the distance in the shutout loss as the Oil Giants scored the only run in the second inning.
The 18-year-old righty gave up four hits, struck-out eight and walked one over six innings.
Garrett Young of the Oil Giants surrendered only two hits, Joe Karall’s single and Davis Pratt’s double, while fanning five, walking eight and stranded 10 runners.
The bats were also silent when Jans was on the mound in the 2-0 loss to SEEBA last month at John Fry Park.
The Cardinals were limited to two hits and left three men on base as Jans racked up seven strikeouts and issued one walk while scattering six hits over six innings.
The setback also halted the team’s 12-game winning streak to start off the season.
“Its kind of disappointing I guess when the bats couldn’t find a way to score one or two to get the W,” Jans said
The latest Norwest stats list Jans with one win, two losses and 0.80 ERA over 26 innings. He was tagged for 14 hits while allowing three earned runs and striking out 23.
“I’m spotting my fastball, my slider is doing pretty good and I’m getting a lot of guys out. I’m finding the zone and getting ahead of everyone,” said the Grade 12 Bellerose Composite High School student who accepted a scholarship from the Highland Community College Scotties in Kansas.
The second game in Fort McMurray was decided in the top of seven as the Cardinals blew a 7-3 lead and the Oil Giants scored seven runs on six hits.
The Oil Giants finished with 10 hits, committed four errors and left eight men on base, compared to seven hits, two errors and four stranded by the Cardinals.
“We went up in the bottom of six with a three run home run (by Kyler Charchun) and then we gave up a grand slam in the top of seven and that put them up by one (at 8-7),” said Jans, who was hit in the cheek by a pitch while batting clean-up.
The Cardinals put the doubleheader setback behind them as Ryan Marples, Thomas Leathem, Caleb Cooper, Ryan Poiniewozik and Logan Blumhagen combined on a six-hitter in Sunday’s shutout.
The Cardinals pushed three runs across in their first at-bat and after three innings led 6-0.
Eights players collected one hit apiece, including Dustyn Pankiw’s double, and Karall drove in two runs. Five players also swiped one base each.
“Everyone was just ready to go. I felt we weren’t ready to go the first two games,” Jans said.
Tuesday the Cardinals were scheduled to host the second-place Parkland Twins (16-5) but it was rained out.
The next Norwest match is against the Sherwood Park Athletics (14-4) Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Centennial Park.
“We’ve got to find a way to get out job done. We’ve got to throw a lot of strikes, hit the gaps and play defence,” said Jans, who is batting .333 with 15 hits, including three triples and one home run, while driving home 14 runs and scoring 17 times.
FOUL BALLS: The Cardinals are in Spokane next weekend for the American Legion Wood Bat Classic tournament.
Among the top Norwest leaders are the following Cardinals.
Karall: 5-0, 25.1 innings pitched and struck-out 25 batters.
Mike Brisson: .600 on-base percentage, .688 slugging percentage and 19 runs.
Liam Froment: .652 on-base percentage, 529 batting average, 0.36 ERA and struck-out 28 batters.
Anthony Owen: 19 RBIs, 15 singles, 19 runs and 15 stolen bases.
