Sunday July 23, 2017

Break out the brooms in Saskatchewan

By Dustin Saracini

Regina, SK - Make it a perfect Saskatchewan road trip for the (30-11) Okotoks Dawgs, who earned their sixth straight win in a sweep of the (27-14) Regina Red Sox -- taking game two, 10-5.

The red and white came together to outscore opponents 48-22 in their longest stint away from home this year.

“Very proud [of these guys],” five-year Dawg, Brendan Rose, said following Sunday’s win.

“This is the best team we’ve had, I think. It’s just an awesome feeling to play with them every day. One to nine in the lineup we are as good as we’ve ever been and our starting pitching has been pretty good lately, our bullpen has been awesome, it’s just a lot of fun every day.”

Chris Horvath (Wayne State) continued the impressive string of outings from the pitching staff, tossing six innings of two-run baseball for his fourth win of 2017. Five of six victories on the road came from the starting rotation.

Offensively, Zach Hanna (University of Missouri) and John Hawk (Iowa Western) led the pack, combining for eight hits while Darius Foster (Oregon State University) chipped in with his fourth multi-hit day of the campaign. Kody Funderburk (Dallas Baptist) put his seal of approval late in the contest with his 13th home run of the season while veteran Dawg Brendan Rose (UBC - Calgary, AB) had arguably the biggest knock of the day, ripping a two-RBI double in the fourth frame to give the Dawgs their first lead. He finished the day 1-for-2.

Down 1-0, Okotoks rallied with two out to jump in front thanks to Rose. Following back-to-back singles from Hanna and Hawk, Rose put a charge into a fastball, bouncing it off the wall in right field to drive in two.

“I was just trying to stay back and see a pitch over the heart of the plate,” Rose said.

“I’ve been out front a lot, so I just tried to stay back and see the ball.”

The red and white made it a three-run edge in the fifth inning after Matt Lloyd (Indiana University) kickstarted the frame with a free pass. Taking second on a wild pitch, Lloyd crossed the plate following an RBI single from Funderburk -- his team-leading 45th RBI of the campaign. The Dawgs added to their lead with a pair hits from Hanna and Hawk. The latter scored the former with an RBI single to right field, which gave the Iowa Western product his fourth base-hit of the road trip.

Lloyd would later extend his hitting streak to 21 with a single in his final at-bat.

Regina refused to go away, coming right back in the bottom half of the frame to load the bases with one out. However, the Red Sox plated just one, while Horvath issued the 1-2-3 double play to limit the damage.

The insurance runs continued to roll for Okotoks in the top of the seventh. Hanna recorded his fourth single of the day before Jayse McLean (North Dakota State University) stretched his hitting streak to two games with a rifle of a single to right field. With the bases loaded, three free passes made it a 7-2 contest.

After the Red Sox scored one in the eighth, Funderburk put this one far out of reach with a three-run blast, the Dawgs’ 11th of the trip.

BY THE NUMBERS:

Chris Horvath: 6 IP 6 H 2 ER 6 BB 3 K

Zach Hanna (R): 4-5

John Hawk (R): 4-4

OF RECORD:

WP: Chris Horvath (4-2) LP: Dalton England (2-3)