July 29, 2018

By Tyler Lowey

Okotoks Dawgs

The Okotoks Dawgs ended their Western Major Baseball League season by defeating the Lethbridge Bulls 6-3 on Sunday afternoon at Seaman Stadium.

With all the playoff positions decided before this afternoon’s action, the Dawgs (35-12) allowed Eddie Sanchez (Central Arkansas University) to play all nine positions. The last player on the Dawgs to play all nine positions in a game was Mark Riendeau in 2014.

Starting behind the plate, Sanchez made his way around the field before he exited in the ninth after striking out Nick Ankermann. Sanchez ran off the field to a standing ovation by the 4,182 fans in attendance and was greeted by a line of his teammates who congratulated him on his career with the Dawgs.

The Bulls (19-29) lead 1-0 in the third when former Dawgs Academy player Ashton Roy scored Hank Forrest with a sacrifice fly to right field.

Bulls starter Chris Messer helped out his own cause in the fourth when he singled to right to score Ankermann. Messer went 6 1/3 innings, allowed five earned runs and struck out three. He finished the season 0-3.

Ryan Humeniuk (Indian Hills Community College) singled home Will Hollis (Cisco College) and Abdiel Alicea (Tabor College) in the fourth. He also stole one base to move into second place all-time single season franchise record with 22 stolen bases.

In the seventh, Humeniuk added to his great day by battling back from an 0-2 count to earn the bases loaded walk.

Hank Forrest then swatted his fourth home run of the season in the top of the fifth. That would be the last run Graham Brunner (Dawgs Academy) gave up in his fifth start of the season. He allowed three earned runs and struck out six, as his record improved to 3-0.

In the fifth, Nate DeChaine (Morningside College) crushed a two-run triple to centre and Alicea legged out an infield single allowing DeChaine to score.

With the win, the Dawgs tied the franchise record with 35 wins and ended the season with 11 consecutive wins.