Staff
One game to rule them all.
That’s the scenario to decide this year’s champion of the Rainy River District Fastball League after the Fort Frances Braves and Barwick Blue Knights split the first two games of the best-of-three championship series at Couchiching.
The Braves took the opener 7-2 on Tuesday, then watched as the Knights struck back with a 4-1 victory last night to even things up.
So it will come down to Game 3 next Wednesday (Sept. 6) at 7 p.m. at Couchiching, with the Braves looking to avenge their loss to Barwick in the 2015 final.
Jaden Gustafson was brilliant on the mound for the Braves in Game 1, shutting out the Blue Knights over the last six innings while tossing a four-hit complete game.
He fanned 13 while allowing just one walk.
Mike Parisien, meanwhile, continued his red-hot playoff run at the plate–notching three RBIs against losing pitcher JJ Landry.
Landry and Brandan Pratt were a tag-team force in Game 2 last night, however, with Landry’s designation as the “extra player” allowing him and Pratt to switch as pitchers five times.
That kept the Braves’ hitters off-balance, plating their only run in the third.
Barwick used two hits and two Braves’ errors to score three times in the second off Gustafson.
They added an insurance run in the fifth thanks to another two-error inning by the Braves.
