ACME — It was a disappointing end to the season for the Red Deer Sports World Braves.
The Braves went into the provincial midget AA baseball championships, with a 17-2 record and ranked second. However, they dropped two of their three starts and were eliminated.
The Braves lost 6-2 to the sixth-seeded Camrose Cougars and beat Bonnyville 13-9 before dropping a 12-8 decision to the Acme Red Sox in the quarter-finals.
Joe Ireland started against Camrose and allowed three rune over three innings on six hits. Jayden Hutlet eventually took the loss.
At the plate the Braves bats were cold managing only seventh-inning runs by Reid Stoyberg and Alec Mitchell.
The Bonnyville contest didn’t start well with the Braves trailing 9-0 after only two innings. However, they exploded for nine runs in the third inning to tie the score before pulling away.
Mitchell and Logan Marshall had key RBI doubles in the third inning.
Marshall was two-for-four while Mitchell had two hits, three RBIs and scored twice. Jesse Kowalchuk had a pair of hits, a walk and scored three times while Jesse Muirhead singled twice and scored twice.
Hutlet drew four walks and scored twice.
Marshall picked up the win on the mound in relief of Chaz Piche, who replaced starter Tyler Galloway. Marshall’s three innings of strong relief were key in shutting down the Bonnyville attack. Muirhead tossed a scoreless seventh inning.
The Braves led Acme 7-3 after three innings, only to see the host team battle back to trail 8-7 heading into the seventh inning where they exploded for five runs to pull away.
Teagan Colonna took the loss in relief of Muirhead, who relieved Hutlet.
Mitchell had a single, double and three RBIs for the Braves while Colonna added a pair of singles and scored twice. Alex Heinzlmeir had a two-run double and scored once while Galloway scored three times on a hit and two walks. Marshall had an RBI single and scored once.
The Acme game was the final game of their midget careers for Jeff and Joe Ireland, Piche, Heinzlmeir, Marshall, Stoyberg and Mitchell.