Denver Wik’s decision to join the Red Deer Riggers this season has worked out perfectly for himself and the team.
Saturday Wik took to the mound and tossed a seven-inning complete game as the Riggers downed the Calgary Redbirds 9-2 in the 29th annual Riggers senior baseball tournament at Great Chief Park.
The win gave the Red Deer crew a 2-0 record and a berth in the championship final against the Fort Saskatchewan A’s today at 3 p.m.
The A’s downed the Red Deer Stags 10-1 and U19 Team Alberta 9-8 in an extra inning in their pool.
In other games the Stags downed Team Alberta 3-1 and the St. Albert Tigers edged the Redbirds 7-6.
Wik, who threw 105 pitches on the hot-muggy day, scattered seven hits, allowing single runs in the fourth and seventh innings.
“It was hot and I didn’t have that much pop on my pitches, but my change-up was working and I used that a lot,” said Wik, who played with the Innisfail Indians the last three seasons.
The 22-year old also plays at Minot State University in North Dakota, along with four other members of the Riggers.
“There’s five of us that play here and I know the Chatwoods (Jason and Jaret), so my buddies were all here,” he said. “And it was a chance to play some good ball on a young team.”
Wik has two years remaining at Minot State where he’s in the starting rotation.
The Riggers scored two runs in the fourth and one in the fifth off Calgary starter Jason Luce, then added six runs off reliever Mike Schlekewy in the sixth.
Kerry Boon led the offence with a double and two singles while Dwayne Lalor had two singles and Jason Chatwood had a single and two walks.
The Stags managed only four hits in their loss to the A’s with starter James Carr taking the loss.
Davin Gulbransen started for the Stags and tossed shutout ball into the fifth inning against Team Alberta. Aaron Tweet came on and allowed a run in the sixth, which narrowed the gap to 2-1.
The Red Deer crew added a run in the seventh.
Kevin Curran had a pair of hits for the Stags, who got to Team Alberta starter Joel Peterman, who plays for the Riggers, for two runs in the third on two hits and four walks.
Peterman pitched five innings with Brad Regehr going the final two.
Team Alberta faces the Redbirds today at 10 a.m. while the Stags and Tigers clash at 12:30 p.m.