Three losses in a five-day span, including two in extra innings, cooled off the red-hot St. Albert Cardinals in the Norwest Midget AAA Baseball League.
And in two of the three games the Cardinals let the lead slip away from them.
“We still don’t know how to put teams away,” said C.J. Jayasekera, field manager for the 6-4 Cardinals. “They've been very close games. Pitching has been fantastic. Defence has been outstanding. Unfortunately we just couldn't come up with that timely hit.”
The Cardinals fell to SEEBA 8-7 in eight innings Saturday in Edmonton and 5-3 in nine innings Tuesday at Legion Memorial Park.
“We weren't able to capitalize when we had our chances. They capitalized in both games and we weren't able to. That's kind of why it went into extras and we lost,” said right-fielder Triffon Tatarin.
Wednesday the Cardinals dropped a 4-2 decision to Spruce Grove White Sox 1 in St. Albert.
The Cardinals are trying not to let the latest turn of events rattle them.
“As the game goes on you get a little more discouraged as you fall behind and then after the game we’re definitely down but we’ve got to shake it off and get ready to start the next game,” Tatarin said.
The Cardinals opened the first game against SEEBA (8-4) with three runs in their first at-bat, but needed four runs in the seventh to knot the score.
In the eighth the Cardinals stranded three runners on base and in the bottom of the inning SEEBA scored the winning run on a pair of hits.
SEEBA out-hit the Cardinals 14-5. Tatarin and Evan Loranger and scored twice and Mat Brisson drove in two runs.
Tanner Karpinski surrendered six runs, four earned, on nine hits and two walks over four innings and Brisson gave up two runs, one earned, on five hits in relief.
The next game both teams pushed two runs across in the fourth and the score remained intact until SEEBA put up a three-spot in the ninth with two hits.
In the bottom of the ninth the Cardinals managed one run without registering a hit and left two on base.
Connor Burns fanned five while allowing two runs, one earned, on two hits and two walks in seven innings. Brisson took over in the eighth and was tagged for three runs, one earned, on two hits while posting two strikeouts.
Karpinski banged out two hits and Loranger had one RBI.
“We put ourselves in good position to win and I guess that situational hitting didn't come through,” Jayasekera said of the losses to SEEBA.
The next night the Cardinals scored twice in the second inning and the White Sox (4-7) replied with two in the top of the three, then jumped ahead 3-2 in the fourth and added their fourth run in the sixth.
Starting pitcher Jackson Wark tossed a six-hitter and walked five in 4-2/3 innings while giving up three runs and two were earned.
Alex Marthiensen let in one earned run on one hit and two walks in relief.
The White Sox out-hit the home team 7-3 and two pitchers combined to strike-out 10 Cardinals.
“We didn't do a lot with our bats. We didn't attack the fastballs like we should've. We didn't put pressure on them. We had all the pressure on us. We didn’t drive in base runners when we had the chance,” said Tatarin, who batted 1-for-3 and drew a walk.
Jayasekera wants his hitters to clutch up with runners in scoring position.
“When you get to those situations you want to stay aggressive and perhaps the athletes weren't very versed in those moments and were afraid to go win it,” he said. “It’s also a skill to be aggressive in those type of situations where the game is on the line and who is willing to step up and make that timely hit and bring the guy home. It’s a process we’re working through.”
Tatarin, 18, expects the Cardinals to rebound from their recent losing ways.
“We do have a lot of promise,” said the second-year Cardinal and fourth-year midget from Vegreville who is batting .269 with three RBIs. “Our defence has been pretty good and our pitching has been all right but our bats haven't been up to it lately and I think once we fix that we’ll start going again.”
This weekend the Cardinals are competing at the Medicine Hat tournament and are scheduled to play the host Monarchs, Calgary Blues and Regina Wolfpack.
“Tournaments are very important because they are like little mini tests for the provincial weekend,” Jayasekera said.
Next week the Cardinals are in Sherwood Park to play the Dukes (6-2) on Tuesday and Thursday and the A’s (2-8) on Wednesday. Game times are 7 p.m.
