Dawgs edge Cardinals 6-5

Jaxon Valcke (St. Marys, Ont.), shown here with the UBC Thunderbirds, was 4-for-4 for the Okotoks Dawgs on Tuesday. Photo: UBC Athletics

July 23, 2019

By Dan Khavkin

Okotoks Dawgs

A night after they trounced the Yorkton Cardinals 18-2, the Okotoks Dawgs squeaked out a 6-5 win over the same club on Tuesday, thanks to a four-run rally in the ninth inning.

A three-run sixth inning had propelled the Cardinals (4-38) to a 5-2 lead heading into the final inning before the league-leading Dawgs rallied.

Dawgs Academy alumni and Barton Community College freshman Noah Geekie got the Dawgs on the scoreboard with a two-out RBI single in the second inning.

Yorkton then tied the game the following frame with a two-out RBI single of their own.

The Dawgs looked poised for a big inning in the sixth when they had two men in scoring position when Noah Penney, who had taken over for the injured Gavin Logan, was robbed of two RBIs on a diving play by Cardinals third baseman Logan MacDougall.

That defensive play shifted the tide of the contest as the Cardinals tallied a two-out, two-run RBI double in the bottom of the frame, before adding another run on a wild pitch to take a 4-1 lead.

The Dawgs got one run back in the top of the seventh on an RBI sacrifice fly from UBC infielder Jaxon Valcke.

But the Cardinals responded in the bottom half of the inning to score a run on a safety-squeeze against eventual winning pitcher Brandon Desjardins to retake a three-run lead.

But the Dawgs would mount a comeback in the ninth inning when Chandler-Gilbert product Tristan Peters registered an RBI single before Valcke ripped a double to make it a one-run game. This set up Bellevue University infielder Riley Baasch who drove in the tying run on a fielder's choice.

Thompson Rivers second baseman Liam Rihela then delivered an RBI double to give the Dawgs their first lead since the second inning.

With the Dawgs up 6-5, closer Dustin Schorie got the final three outs and notched his eighth save of the season.

Okotoks will look for the sweep against Yorkton Wednesday night at 7:05 p.m.