The St. Albert Senior Cardinals are up to bat Monday against the Edmonton Heat in the Alberta West Central Baseball Association.
The first game of the season in the 35-plus league starts at 6:45 p.m. at Legion Memorial Park.
Last year the Cardinals finished fourth at 9-6 for third place in the eight-team standings.
The Grey Birds also reached the B final in the 35-plus division at the Canadian National Oldtimers Baseball Championships held in St. Albert and the metro Edmonton area.
A combination of walks and errors by the St. Albert Junior Cardinals led to Wednesday’s season-opening loss in the North Central Alberta Baseball League.
The lead exchanged hands several times before the Edmonton Athletics pulled away in the late innings to win 13-8 at Legion Memorial Park.
McLean Cruthers started on the mound and pitched three innings, followed by Ian Pollard, Zach Pollard and Cody Stasow.
Dan Wiun drove in three runs while batting 2-for-3 with a double.
Jarret Klim also went 2-for-3 with a double and two walks.
Hayden Chies added a pair of singles and one RBI, Lane Hardman had two RBIs and Scott Peterson banged out a triple.
The next game is Thursday against the Edmonton Indians at 7:15 p.m. at John Fry Park.
The Cardinals are also hosting the NCABL-sanctioned Rainmaker Rodeo Invitation Tournament May 23 to 25 at Legion park.
The St. Albert Cardinals put a five spot on the scoreboard in the top of the seventh inning, but it wasn’t enough to beat the hometown Spruce Grove White Sox in Wednesday’s bantam AAA contest.
Tylor Jans, Colton Girard, Zach Froment and Cole Seitz toed the rubber for the Cardinals in their first game of the season. It was also the first appearance in bantam AAA for Froment, the 2013 Baseball Alberta peewee player of the year, and Seitz.
At the plate Jans belted a triple and drove home two runs.
This weekend in Sherwood Park the Cardinals play the Athletics today at 11 a.m. and SEEBA on Sunday at 10 a.m.
The next home game is Friday against SEEBA at 6:30 p.m. at the St. Albert Early Bird Tournament at Legion park.
Visit www.stalbertbaseball.com for the bantam AAA and AA, midget AA, peewee AAA and AA and mosquito AA Early Bird schedules.
The St. Albert Cardinals are undefeated in three games entering today’s doubleheader in the Norwest Midget AAA Baseball League.
Game times against Calgary Redbirds Black (1-0) are 1 and 4 p.m. at Foothills Stadium in Calgary.
Last Saturday the Cardinals swept the Red Deer Braves 5-0 and 17-2 in the cold at Legion Memorial Park.
Connor Burns pitched a complete game two-hitter while striking-out four and walking one in the opener.
The 2013 Tier 1 provincial finalists and Western Canadian gold medallists scored four runs in the first inning and added one more in the fifth. They recorded five hits overall, stole four bases and didn’t commit an error.
Leadoff hitter Logan Harvey batted 2-for-4, doubled, scored twice and stole two bases and Jake Fischer drove home two runs
Red Deer (0-2) was charged with three errors.
In game two the Cardinals pushed nine runs across in their first at-bat on four hits and two Red Deer errors. They added six runs on four hits in the fourth and a pair of runs in the fifth.
Hits were 10-4 for the home team as Harvey, Burns, Jeremy Gamracy and Tyler Schwendeman doubled and Dylan Gates triple in the five-inning affair.
Four Cardinals were also hit by pitches.
Schwendeman finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs. Gates was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored, Austin Watamaniuk scored three times while going 1-for-3 and Burns added two RBIs.
Taran Oulton tossed a three-hitter and fanned six while allowing one earned run and one walk over four innings. Mat Brisson closed out the fifth inning with one unearned run on one hit and one walk.
The next home game is May 21 against the Sherwood Park Dukes (3-1) at 6:30 p.m.
