Canucks U18 AA Have Rough Night On The Diamond
It is not very often when your opponents have 16 hits you win the ball game.
There are times you get lucky and pull it off.
But unfortunately for the Moose Jaw Canucks U18 AA the luck wasn’t there on Wednesday evening as they fell to the Assiniboia Aces 11 - 1 in a sixth inning mercy rule loss.
“It was ugly. You could tell from the start of the game it wasn’t going to be great for us. We made three or four errors in that first inning and it wasn’t going our way,” Canucks head coach Zachary Klyne said.
Moose Jaw bat catcher Jesse Lesperance (left) makes the tag on Assiniboia Aces Jeff Williams at home plate - MJ Independent photo
The first inning saw Assiniboia score off a Canucks error that advanced a runner to third base.
In a subsequent play a ball alluded Canucks catcher Jesse Lesperance allowing the Aces to score.
A missed out on first base by the Canucks allowed the Aces to score two more runs.
The Canucks would go three up and three down in response in the bottom of the first inning.
The Aces would score a single run in the second inning.
At their time at bat in the second inning the Canucks threatened but their offence fizzled off of the arm of Assiniboia’ bat catcher.
After advancing runners to second and third bases the Canucks base runner would be picked off at second base to end the inning.
Moose Jaw Canucks starting pitcher Zaiden Anderson was relieved after two innings where he gave up four runs - MJ Independent photo
The Aces would be three up and three down in the fourth inning.
In the bottom of the fourth inning Tryton Legare would load up the bases after a miss by the Aces on second base.
The Canucks lone run of the game came when Spencer Craig was walked with the bases loaded scoring a run.
The fifth inning would see both teams not score a run.
The Aces managed to get a base runner to second and scoring position but he ended up stranded.
The sixth inning saw the Aces explode in a seven run romp.
The inning saw the Aces load the bases on a walk with only one out.
During their half of the sixth inning the Canucks managed to load the bases when Jesse Lesperance got on base on a walk.
A strikeout would be the Canucks final out stranding three base runners.
The final score was Assiniboia Aces 11 - Moose Jaw Canucks 1 after a six inning mercy rule ending.
The Canucks’ Carter Stewart makes the catch on an infield fly ball - MJ Independent photo
“The only thing going for us is that our pitchers threw strikes. The only problem with that is when you throw strikes to see if the other team can hit it and they hit it,” Klyne said.
The Aces’ bats would account for a blistering 16 hits four times the four hits the Canucks’ bats could muster.
Error wise officially both teams were almost clean during the game.
The Canucks had two errors while the Acrs had a single error.
“They hit it and we couldn’t field it at all today,” he said.
Klyne said the Canucks’ problems extended throughout the majority of their game.
Tyson Ross is tagged out as he tried to stretch out a strong single from first base to third base - MJ Independent photo
“There was plays in all aspects of the game today. Our base running was bad, our fielding was bad, easy plays that were simple and just catch the baseball was bad,” Klyne said.
“Batting we were watching too many pitches and we are striking out. A little bit of everything went bad today.”
Asked if it could be the Canucks were tired after the weekend tournament in Medicine Hat plus final exams Klyne said anything is possible.
“They could be busy we were like in Medicine Hat last weekend and it was a long weekend with four games,” he said, adding “coming back a lot of them had finals today, Tuesday and Monday so it could be a little bit of fatigue from that.”
Canucks’ Hudson Tallon (foreground) looks back over his shoulder to see if his teammate is safe at second base - MJ Independent photo
Despite the fatigue factor Klyne was blunt with his team’s play.
“The performance we had today it shouldn’t be as bad as that.”
With the loss of their final regular season game and their season record the Canucks AA team will not in the vying for Tier One in the provincial playoffs.
The team might be in Tier Two or even Tier Three for the playoffs. Last season the Canucks came close to winning the provincial Tier One championship.
The Canucks’ Carter Stewart in the dugout in the bottom half of the sixth inning - MJ Independent photo
“We aren’t really sure (where we will be). We won’t be in Tier One we know that but in Tier Two and down we’ll be somewhere.”
Winning the game against the Aces would have in most likelihood ensured a spot in Tier Two of the provincial finals.
“Hopefully we can win a couple of games and move up,” he said.
The Canucks’ Tryton Legare shows the dirt on his uniform late in the game - MJ Independent photo
Asked if he was disappointed with the team’s play Klyne said “I’m never disappointed. There were games we kind of threw away we should have won. It is what it is.”
“We’re a young team and we play hard still. We just need some kids to come to the game focused and ready to play baseball.”
Asked about how to motivate the Canucks who have nosedived as of late Klyne said “we just have got to keep playing like we can. We’re young. Our pitchers are doing a job still. It’s been practicing to not play like we did tonight…we just need to start coming to the games ready to play and focused when we get there.”
