Bonnyville’s U18 AA Braves return from a road weekend with a win and two losses

The Bonnyville U18 Braves baseball club was on the road again this past weekend in Edmonton at Wally Footz field to play another three-game set. The weekend started off with a cold and windy game Saturday afternoon against Leduc Black Gold.

Carter ‘Gronk’ Goreniuk, who was playing in his first game of the year after a shoulder injury, got the nod from the manager and took to the mound. He pitched a solid five innings, giving up five earned runs and striking out two, which was a good first outing. Carter’s bat was also a welcome sight back in the lineup. He had himself a great weekend at the plate pounding the ball. The Braves had an 8-5 lead going into the bottom of the 7th inning. Jedd Stybel was up on the mound now and had a great outing as a relief pitcher.

Although Black Gold tied the game up 8-8 after seven innings, Jedd would get his revenge. The two runners placed on first and second for the extra innings, and a walk to the first batter set up loaded bases for the ‘Mighty Casey’ Warawa. He hit a monster three-run triple off the fence to give the Braves a much-needed lead.

Zach Lapointe, who had another great weekend calling the game behind the plate, cashed in another run, giving the Braves the 12-8 lead. Jedd Stybel was still on the hill for the extra inning, trying to shut down the Black Gold in the bottom of the seventh. And he did just that, not allowing a run and giving the Braves the 12-8 extra-inning win.

After the big win, it was right back against another tough team, the Edmonton Padres.

Cadogan Rachynski took the mound for the Braves, pitching a solid three innings, giving up only three runs on five hits. Even though Cadogan didn’t have his best stuff, he battled through and put the team in a good spot to win this one, being tied 3-3 after three innings.

Dane Archibald came into the game in relief and had three strikeouts in 1 and 2/3 innings. Dane also had a good weekend at the plate and is really starting to hit the ball hard. Colin Reardon came in to help close out the game and did a great job going 2 and 1/3 innings and giving up only one run and three strikeouts. Colin also had a double and a couple of hard-hit balls this weekend.

Cody Archibald had a great weekend at the plate, going three for four in this game with a double. His bat is really starting to heat up. Owen Tibbets almost laid down the perfect bunt for a squeeze play at the end of the game to score another run, but the Padres pitcher made a great play to tag the runner out at home. The Braves had the bases loaded at the bottom of the sixth but couldn’t find a way to cash in the winning run, so they lost the game 9-6. Back-to-back games are always tough, but seeing the boys play another good game was good.

Dane Archibald pitching

Sunday morning was probably the nicest weather of the weekend. The Braves were facing the Sherwood Park Athletics. The Braves did not save their best for last.

Casey Warawa was on the mound and had a great outing, pitching four innings with four Ks (strikeouts) and only giving up three ER (earned runs). Andrew Haxby, who is really finding his groove in right field, made some nice plays and had a few hits along the way as well. Jaxon Gauthier came into the game to pitch after the Braves were going through pitchers trying to find the strike zone and did a great job, pitching 1 and 1/3 innings with two Ks and not giving up a run.

Sam Atwal continued hitting well at the plate and made some nice catches over the weekend. The Braves only gave up runs in two innings; the problem was that there were six runs in both innings. Returning when you spot the other team’s 12 runs is tough. All in all, there were a lot of good lessons to learn early in the season, which will make the Braves a better team in the long run. The Braves lost this one 12-7.

Casey Warawa with a triple