The St. Albert Tigers were missing several key players Thursday at Legion Memorial Park and it showed.
The Tigers fell to 1-4 in the Sunburst League, losing 11-2 to the Fort Saskatchewan Athletics (7-1) in seven innings. Missing from the Tigers’ line-up were five players who started the game on Sunday when St. Albert beat the Athletics to take home the title at the Tigers’ tournament: Danny Mikitka, Dan McDonald, Dan Curtis, Mike Poelzer and Brad Wolansky. Curtis and Wolansky are currently at Baseball Canada meetings in Toronto.
In addition, coach Kurtus Millar said several players had to work Thursday night so they could have this weekend off for the Red Deer Stags’ tournament that began Friday. That left the Tigers with barely a dozen players in their line-up, far less than the usual 30.
Millar acknowledged his team was shorthanded, but wasn’t going to use that as an excuse for his team.
“You can’t show up not ready to play against them,” he said. “We only had three hits tonight. The bats were dead. I’m not making any excuses, but we just didn’t come to play tonight. That’s all.”
Jessy Beley, who had been playing third base for the Tigers this season, moved back to his old spot behind the plate, filling in for Wolansky. He did a fine job defensively, but struggled at the plate like most of the Tigers offence, going 0-for-3.
The Athletics jumped ahead early with lead-off hitter Andy Herman getting on with a double in the first inning and Lance Romanchuk brining him in with a hard single to right-field. St. Albert pitcher Craig Tomas quickly escaped trouble by inducing a 4-6-3 double play from Matt Beaudry.
The Tigers only managed one hit in the bottom of the inning, but were able to take a 2-1 lead, thanks to some miscues from the 2008 Sunburst champions. With runners on second and third, Beley brought in a run with a ground out. Next up, Kevin Stork made the most solid contact of the night for the Tigers with an RBI double to the centre-field wall.
Tomas pitched a strong second inning for St. Albert and gave up one run, but the game got away from him in the third. He opened by giving up a walk, Ben Herman reached on an error from shortstop John McHugh, Romanchuk walked and Beaudry knocked in two runs with a double just out of Brandon Barr’s reach in centre field.
With four runs in the inning, the Athletics took a 6-2 lead and chased Tomas from the game. Through three innings, the 28-year-old right-hander gave up five hits, three walks and six runs, five of them earned.
Cody Ferbey pitched the fourth inning and was then replaced by Taylor Lavallee.
“As soon as [Tomas] got tired, we pulled him because we’ve got to save some pitching for this weekend,” Millar said. “Taylor doesn’t normally throw. He came in and just mucked it up for us. He got us through the night.”
On the mound for the Athletics, Andrew Miratzy pitched a solid, seven-inning complete game. The right-hander from Sherwood Park gave up just three hits, two walks and two runs.
The Tigers were coming off their first Sunburst win of the season Tuesday when they beat the Red Deer Stags (2-4) 12-5 at Legion park.
“I think the tournament victory gave them a little bit of confidence and that came out on Tuesday,” Millar said. “[Jonathan] Hodges started slow and finished great, and [Matt] Hammond came in and closed the door. The guys’ bats were alive. They hit the ball. They earned that win.”
St. Albert will be looking to rebound from their most recent loss this weekend in Red Deer at the five-team tournament hosted by the Stags that also features the Red Deer Riggers, Calgary Longhorns and the Athletics. St. Albert plays the Riggers in both of their round robin games. Because of how the tournament is set up, every team will at least get a spot in a quarter-final game. The championship game is Sunday at 4 p.m.
The Tigers beat the Riggers 5-1 at their home tournament last weekend, but Millar knows what they’re capable of.
“They’re the defending provincial champions,” Millar said. “They’re a good ball team. With them, it’s the same as the [Athletics]. You’ve got to come ready to play.”
