In front of a recording setting crowd at Gulls Stadium of nearly 1,800 people, the Sylvan Lake Gulls took care of business taking game one of a best-of-three West Division semi-finals series against the Fort McMurray Giants.
It was a recipe for success for the Gulls as the sun was out, there wasn’t an empty seat in sight, and Josh Tucker was on the mound in a 4-2 win for the home team.
Tucker, who set a Western Canadian Baseball League single-season strikeout record with 91 this season, was back at it again with a solid performance on Monday. He finished with 11 strikeouts, six through the first three innings, only allowing four hits in seven innings of work.
The Giants opened the scoring in the second inning when Niko Kekatos took Josh Tucker deep to centre field for a home run.
The Gulls would respond in the third inning when Michael Polson hit one down the third baseline to cash in Kaden Zarowny.
In the next inning Tyler McWillie, who was tied for the lead in home runs in the regular season with 11, hit a solo bomb over the fence to bring the fans to their feet. Ben Prediger would then hit a double later in the same inning to bring in two more runs to take a 4-1 lead.
In the sixth inning, the Giants would score their second run after a wild pitch would get away from Tucker scoring in the runner on third base.
Tyler Boudreau pitched in the final two innings for the Gulls where he struck out three and only allowed two hits to close out the game.
Next up for the Gulls will be game two in Fort McMurray at Legacy Dodge Field on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. where they will get the chance to advance to the conference finals. If needed, the Gulls will play a game three back at home Wednesday night.
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Cleary Simpson makes contact with the ball during the Sylvan Lake Gulls playoff game Monday night in the West Division semi-finals against the Fort McMurray Giants at Gulls Stadium. (Photo by Ian Gustafson/ Advocate staff)
Josh Tucker pitched seven innings for the Sylvan Lake Gulls Monday night striking out 11 in a 4-2 win in the semi-finals at Gulls Stadium against the Fort McMurray Giants. (Photo by Ian Gustafson/ Advocate staff)
