Dawgs take two from Giants

Dawgs Academy product Graham Brunner improved his record to 2-0 after tossing five dominant innings for the Dawgs in the first game of their doubleheader on Sunday. (FILE PHOTO)

June 24, 2018

By Tyler Lowey

Okotoks Dawgs

The Okotoks Dawgs swept a doubleheader against the Fort McMurray Giants on Sunday.

Game 1 - Dawgs 11 Giants 5

The Okotoks Dawgs defeated the Fort McMurray Giants 11-5 in Game 1 of a doubleheader June 24 at Seaman Stadium.

The Dawgs (11-5) and the Giants (5-13) were supposed to open a three-game set Saturday night in Okotoks, but the game got postponed due to heavy rainfall. The game was rescheduled and the two teams played a doubleheader on Sunday.

Loading the bases early in the first game, the Dawgs pushed four runs across in the first when Ryan Humeniuk (Indian Hills Community College) drove in Collin Ridout (Tennessee Wesleyan University) and Nate DeChaine (Morningside College) on a single up the middle. After Marcus Skundrich (Mesa Community College) scored on a passed ball, Riley Baasch (Bellevue University) drove Humeniuk in for his fifth RBI of the season.

In the second, Ridout scored Richard Mascarenas (Linn-Benton Community College) who belted a leadoff triple. Next up was DeChaine, who swatted a two- run moonshot off the scoreboard in right field to put the Dawgs comfortably in front 7-0 in front of 4,248 fans.

Ridout lined one to right field to score Danny Donnelly (Chandler-Gilbert Community College), who led the sixth inning off with a walk. Ridout picked up his third RBI of the game in the bottom of the eighth when his sacrifice fly scored Brandon Sparks (Bellevue University).

DeChaine ended his afternoon in the sixth when he picked up his third hit in four trips to the dish when he singled in Eddie Sanchez (Central Arkansas University) to make it 9-0. DeChaine scored a pair of runs and cashed in three RBI on the afternoon.

Dawgs Academy product and prospective Crowder Community College pitcher Graham Brunner improved his record to 2-0 after going five dominant innings, in which he struck out four, only allowed three hits and didn’t surrender a run.

Junior Ramirez (Bellevue University) struck out the first batter he faced, but he hit one batter and walked two. Jordan Pepper (Seward Community College) came on in relief to retire the side, but all three runners Ramirez put on came around to score, cutting the deficit to 9-3.

Cole Jenkins (Lyon College) and Andrew Yates (Indiana University) each pitched a clean inning of relief.

In the eighth, Dawgs Academy product and Chandler-Gilbert prospect Tristan Peters picked up his first walk of the season and later scored on a fielder’s choice by Mascarenas.

The Giants strung three hits highlighted by two doubles to score a pair in the ninth off Corey Jackson (Indian Hills Community College). David Craft earned the loss for the Giants.

Game 2 – Dawgs 11 Giants 2

The Okotoks Dawgs posted 22 runs over two games against the Fort McMurray Giants on June 24 at Seaman Stadium.

In Game 2 of the doubleheader, the Dawgs (12-5) defeated the Giants 11-2 in front of 2,367 fans during Jimmy Buffet Day.

The Dawgs and Giants (5-14) were forced to play a doubleheader after having the first game of their three-game set postponed last night due to inclement weather. The series finale goes Monday night (7:05 p.m.) at Seaman Stadium.

The Dawgs appeared as if they were going to strand leadoff singles by Eddie Sanchez (University of Central Arkansas) and Richard Mascarenas (Linn-Benton Community College) with two out in the fifth. That’s when the hottest hitter of the day, Collin Ridout (Tennessee Wesleyan University) stepped up to the plate. He continued his strong outing and ripped a hanging curve up the middle to score a pair.

Following Ridout was Dawgs Academy product Danny Donnelly, who also scored a pair by lofting one to left field. Ryan Humeniuk (Indian Hills Community College) came on to pinch hit and singled on the second pitch he saw for this 11th RBI this season and to give the Dawgs a 7-1 lead.

Nate DeChaine (Morningside College) also swung hot bat today and drove in  the first run of the game in the third. Dawgs Academy product Greg Student led off the inning with a walk and came around to score his second run of the season.

Cody Ebert (Columbia College) started his fourth game of the season for the Dawgs and persevered through some control issues. The big right hander tied a season-high with 10 strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings. He entered the game with the fourth-best ERA (0.74) but saw that inflate after he allowed a season-high two earned runs. He improved to 3-0 on the season.

Nolan Ruff (Mesa Community College), Dustin Schorie (Mesa Community College) and Alex Jones (Niagara University) combined to throw three shutout innings to close the game.

Giants starter Chase Partain exited in the fifth after going 4 2/3, allowed six hits and seven earned runs. His record dropped to 0-2 and the Giants have lost their last eight games.

After seeing his average dip below .400 in Game 1, Will Hollis (Cisco Community College) bounced back with a 1-for-3 effort and ripped a two-run double to the gap in the sixth to make it 9-2.

Still in the sixth, Cole MacLaren (University of Pittsburgh) smacked one of two doubles on the evening down the left field line to score Hollis for his third RBI. MacLaren later scored on a wild pitch, which made it 11-2.

Hollis was also instrumental when the Dawgs stole a run in the second. Hollis took off for second for the fifth time this year and on the ensuing throw Sanchez stole home.

The Giants rallied with two out in the top of the fifth when Jon Lindau singled to right field to score Zach Koroneos. They also added one in sixth when Jordan Stickler scored Jaiin McMillan.