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Tigers devour Riggers

The St. Albert Tigers scored another big home victory Friday when they mercied the defending provincial champions.

The St. Albert Tigers scored another big home victory Friday when they mercied the defending provincial champions.

The Tigers improved their Sunburst Baseball League record to 3-4 with a 13-5, seven-inning decision over the Red Deer Riggers (5-5-1) at Legion Memorial Ball Park.

Earlier in the week the Tigers defeated the reigning senior AAA national champion Fort Saskatchewan Athletics 11-7 in St. Albert.

“After that tournament [1-2 record in Red Deer, June 18 to 20] we were down, and then to come back and play the Fort, the defending national champions, and beat them is always a positive for the team,” said Tigers second baseman Craig Tomas. “And the Riggers are the defending provincial champions so it’s two big wins for us. It’s two big games to feed off of and hopefully roll for the rest of the year.”

There was lightning off in the distance at the start of the game, which stayed away from the field but there was heavy rain for the first couple of innings.

On the mound, Derek Dallorto got the start for St. Albert and didn’t allow a Red Deer hit through the first two innings. He got into some trouble in the third as Matt Davis reached on an infield hit to lead off the inning. Both Matt Fay and Delton Kruk reached on errors from Tomas. On the first, the ball bounced with a tricky in-between hop that got away from him. The second was a ball that he had to dive to his side for, but just missed making a play on.

The highlight of the inning for the Riggers was a hard double to the centre field wall from Mike Ronnie that scored two runs and put his side up 4-0. The Tigers ended the inning with a smooth 6-4-3 double play, with John McHugh flipping the ball to Tomas, who quickly fired the ball to Dan Curtis at first base. By that point, Red Deer held a 5-0 lead.

Besides being a part of the double play, Tomas made up for his early miscues by catching a line drive fired towards him in the fifth and singling in the sixth, where he later came around to score.

“It’s just about staying within yourself, knowing yourself and knowing that you can do the job and performing the way you know you can perform,” the 10-year Tigers veteran said. “When you make an error, you just kind of kick some dirt, yell at yourself a little bit, shake it off and just go out there to do it again and make the next play.”

The Tigers began their comeback in the third inning when Darren Adams scored on a passed ball. Later, in the fourth inning, Curtis got his team within one run at 5-4 with a home run over the left field fence that also scored Jessy Beley. Kevin Stork reached first base with a walk and was brought around by Adams. The run tied the game.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Beley, who said it was his first time in four games not getting hit by a pitch, laid down what he intended to be a sacrifice bunt with men on first and second and none out. However, when Red Deer pitcher Mac Girodat threw the ball to first baseman Jordan Weinkauf, it flew clear over his head. McHugh and Danny Mikitka scored on the play and Beley advanced to third.

St. Albert added another four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, including one on a nice play with Dan McDonald and McHugh on the bases. McHugh got caught in a rundown between first and second base, but while the Riggers pitcher was occupied with him, McDonald snuck home just before being tagged.

In the home half of the seventh inning, the Tigers brought their run total to 13, good enough for the eight-run lead mercy-rule win.

Dallorto said the fact the junior Tabbies didn’t have enough players this year to form a team was a blessing in disguise for the senior Tigers.

“We’re really deep and that’s a big difference this year,” said the 31-year-old right-hander. “By combining the teams, it’s made our line-up one to nine way stronger.”

The Tigers and the Athletics (9-3) hooked up Tuesday in the Fort but the score was unavailable as of press time.

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