The Red Deer Riggers fell short in the pursuit of back-to-back league titles this weekend.
Red Deer dropped the best-of-five Sunburst Baseball League Final to the Sherwood Park Athletics after a 5-1 loss on Friday.
The Athletics took the series 3-1. The Riggers opened the final with a huge 8-5 victory but then lost 13-2, 9-2 and 5-1 as the Athletics closed out the series.
Since they won the provincial title in 2017, the Riggers will represent Alberta in Victoria, B.C. this week at the Baseball Canada Men’s Nationals. Sherwood Park will be Alberta’s representative at Nationals in 2019.
Red Deer opens the tournament Aug. 23 at 10 a.m. against Ontario’s second team, Iderton. Game 2 for the Riggers is 3 p.m. on Thursday against B.C.
Play continues through the weekend, with the gold medal game set for Aug. 26 at 1 p.m.
Baseball fans can stream the games live at www.old.baseball.ca/seniormen/index_eng.cfm?content=schedule.