Tales from the Doug Out for May 31, 2023

The hot and dry weather may not be so great for the farmers or firefighters, but it is sure good for baseball. The U18AA Bonnyville Braves hosted at home this weekend on the newly named Church Field and had a great weekend of ball and weather.  Three teams came to town including two of the top teams in Northern Alberta. Camrose Cougars and Grand Prairie are off to a hot start with matching 5-1 records.  The Braves have been short-handed all year due to Grads, work, injuries and players playing in other sports.  But that gives the players who do make the weekends lots of playing time and some experience playing in positions they may not always get to play when the roster fills out.  That will only help the team out come August when the coaching staff knows they can count on a player to fill a spot.

The Braves started the weekend against Camrose.  A team that had just folded its AAA team this year and loaded up for an AA run.  It was a pitching duel.  Ethan Walgren the big lefty from Lac La Biche took the mound for the Braves and pitched a great game going 5 innings only allowing 1 Hit and 1 Run and struck out 7 batters. Sam Atwal who has been playing great at 2^nd base came in for an inning to hold the Cougars while striking out 2. Colton Lacoursiere coming off a recent ankle injury was back to hitting the ball hard going 2-3 with an RBI. The game was tied 3-3 forcing extra innings when Colton came through in the crunch and smacked a single to right field to give the Braves the 4-3 win against a tough Camrose team.  A great way to start the weekend.

Ethan Walgren close play at First

It didn’t get any easier on Sunday morning when the Braves faced Grand Prairie Reds. The Braves being shorthanded for the weekend went to the new recruit Ethan Warawa, a Marwayne product to start the game. Ethan Pitched a terrific game holding the hard-hitting Reds to 6 runs over 3 innings while striking out 5. Heaton Houle came in relief and pitched very well over 2 innings only giving up 3 runs while striking out 3 batters. The Mighty Casey Warawa who has been the Braves leadoff hitter this year had a great weekend at the plate going 3-3 in this one with 2 RBI and a double. The Braves held it close at 6-4 till the 5^th inning when the Reds started to pull away eventually pulling off the victory.

Sam Atwal and Cadagan Rachynski textbook rundown

Finally, in the last game of the weekend, the Braves hosted the Lloyd Twins.  A team the Braves should compete very well with; however not on this day.  Maybe too long of a weekend, maybe too long of grad parties but the Braves didn’t play their best game.  On the bright side first year, Cadogan Rachynski pitched a stellar game. He went 5 strong innings giving up only 7 hits and struck out 5.  Carsyn Milot is starting to find his stride at the plate putting the ball in play and firing the ball across the diamond with his good arm. Seth Cobourne who usually is a starting pitcher for the Braves had to catch a couple of games due to us being short-handed and did an excellent job filling in.  Not an easy task catching two games on a hot summer day.  Kobe the Cobra Warawa was on patrol in centerfield making some nice catches and also having a good weekend at the plate going 2 for 3 at the dish in this one with an RBI. The Braves ended up losing this game but the team can take some lessons from being ready from the hop and staying in the game.  Overall it was a good weekend of ball and great weather; not too bad for May!