The St. Albert Cardinals continued their torrid pace in the bantam AAA provincial seeding round with two wins Saturday in Spruce Grove for an undefeated 10-0 mark and 11-5 overall record.
Dylan Gates drove in three runs and James Robillard, Anthony Owen and Nate Brisson had two-hit games in the 10-6 decision against the hometown White Sox (13-4).
Ross Supruniuk allowed two earned runs over five innings while fanning five batters.
Gates started against Okotoks Dawgs Red (3-11) and uncoiled a three-hitter and struck-out nine while giving up one earned run over 6-2/3 innings in the 5-2 victory.
“Dylan still had lots left in the tank and could’ve gone the distance but he reached the maximum pitch count limit and had to come out,” said field manager Dave Maguire.
Nate Brisson entered the game and struck out the final batter on three pitches.
“We were teasing him after the game. We asked why it took him three pitches to record the out,” Maguire said.
Tylor Jans and Cole Seitz each had two hits and one RBI.
Tonight the Cardinals host SEEBA (9-3) at 7 p.m. at Legion Memorial Park.
This weekend the Red Birds have games scheduled at home Saturday against the Calgary Cubs (3-13) at 12 and 3 p.m. and Sunday against Dawgs Red at 10 a.m. and the Sherwood Park A’s (5-8) at 1 p.m.
The midget AAA St. Albert Cardinals swing into action Thursday at the 10th annual Peter DeVries Invitational Tournament.
The first pitch against the Spruce Grove White Sox is 7 p.m. at John Fry Park.
Saturday at John Fry the Cardinals play SEEBA 1 at 9 a.m. and the St. Albert Junior Cardinals at 6 p.m.
The Junior Cardinals are also up to bat at John Fry on Friday against SEEBA 1 at 7 p.m. and Saturday against the White Sox at 12 p.m.
Sunday at John Fry the semifinals are 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. and final is 3:30 p.m.
Meanwhile, in the Norwest Midget AAA Baseball League, the Cardinals are 9-7 after going 2-2 on the road last weekend.
Saturday the Cardinals lost 5-0 and 12-4 to the first-place Calgary Dinos (16-1) and Sunday they swept the last-place Red Deer Braves (2-11) by scores of 5-3 and 7-3.
Thursday the St. Albert Cardinals visit the last-place Edmonton Athletics in the North Central Alberta Baseball League.
Game time is 7:15 p.m. at Footz Field.
The Cardinals are 3-4 in league play after splitting Sunday’s doubleheader at home against the Stony Plain Mets (5-3) with a 10-7 loss and 7-0 win.
Tuesday the Cardinals travelled to Camrose to play the Axemen (3-4), but the score was unavailable at press time.
The first-place St. Albert Senior Cardinals extended their winning streak to four games in the Alberta West Central Baseball Association in Monday’s 10-3 result at Legion Memorial Park.
The Cardinals are 7-2 after their second victory over the Blues (1-4) in the last three games.
The Cardinals have a big home-and-home series coming up against the defending champion Westlock Red Lions (3-2). Games are set for Friday in Westlock and Monday in St. Albert at 6:45 p.m.
Last year the Cardinals finished second at 12-3 and in the best-of-three final they were swept by the first-place Red Lions (14-3).
The peewee AAA St. Albert Cardinals combined solid starting pitching and contributions throughout the lineup to sweep SEEBA in Saturday’s doubleheader at Legion Memorial Park.
In game one Rhys Mazur settled down after a shaky first inning and allowed only two runs on seven hits through five complete. Mazur also helped his own cause with two hits and scored twice in the 10-2 win.
An early SEEBA rally was snuffed out by an impressive diving catch by outfielder Cole Ridd.
Joseph Karall shut SEEBA down in the final two innings with perfect relief.
Zach Froment slugged a second inning two-run homer while going 2-for-2 at the plate.
In game two Kelton Libich not only tossed three innings of one-hit and one-run ball, but he also banged out three hits.
Ryan Marples returned to the mound after long absence and threw two effective innings of relief before the game ended after five innings with the mercy rule in the 12-2 victory.
The offence was led by Logan McKinley’s clutch two-out double and later in the game he drove in another run.
The Cardinals improved to 8-3 for second place in the standings and SEEBA is tied for last place at 2-6.
The Cardinals hit the road to play the Braves (7-8) in Red Deer on Thursday, the White Sox (2-6) twice in Spruce Grove on Saturday and the Braves in Red Deer again on Sunday.
