The Red Deer Riggers handed out a bit of baseball education to Team Alberta on Tuesday night at Great Chief Park as the young group gets ready to depart for the Canada Summer Games.
In a tune up contest for the games that get underway Saturday in Winnipeg, Team Alberta, made up of mostly midget AAA players and led by head coach Dwayne Lalor was beaten 20-6 by the Riggers.
Lalor said his group learned an important lesson against the bigger, stronger and more experience Rigger squad.
“We stayed with it, we got down early. They’re one of the best teams in the country and they came to play. They aren’t going to let kids beat them,” Lalor said.
“Our kids threw the ball pretty good, but they are accomplished hitters and they took care of business. For us to see that is good… We’re getting better. That was a good learning experience for us.”
JP Wilner hit three home runs and drove in nine runs for the Riggers in the win. He hit a two-run home run in the first, followed by a grand slam later that inning and then crushed a ball to right centre late in the game for a three-run homer.
Hometown kid Cooper Jones played second base and picked up a hit in th loss for Team Alberta.
Team Alberta will leave for the games Thursday morning, then participate in the opening ceremonies Friday before starting play Saturday against B.C. They’ll six round robin games before the medal round against B.C., Quebec and Saskatchewan.