Staff
Jeff Morrison has taken his act to a new home but it’s still a show-stopper.
Morrison has been his usual nearly unhittable self in pitching the Manitou Thunderbirds to a first-place tie with the Barwick Blue Knights at 2-0 in the early goings of the Rainy River District Fastball League season.
The hard-throwing hurler, who helped the now-defunct Big Grassy Braves win back-to-back-to-back championships the past three seasons, was on fire in his first game with the Thunderbirds in a 9-1 win over the visiting Big Island Huskies last Wednesday.
Matt Comegan suffered the loss for Big Island (0-2).
Morrison was on his game again in a 7-1 victory over the Dawson Tigers on Tuesday.
Brett Legarde homered to pace the Thunderbirds offensively while Jeff Kreger took the loss for Dawson (1-1).
Barwick had opened the season with a 15-4 shellacking of the host Rainy River Royals back on May 12.
Brandon Pratt homered and got the win while Vaughan Wilson, Ryder Woolsey, and Mike Anderson also hit round-trippers.
Justin Wagner homered for Rainy River while Carl Big George Jr. was tagged with the loss.
Barwick then blanked host Big Island 10-0 on Tuesday.
Wilson, Kevin Gemmell, and D.J. Mosbeck went yard for the Blue Knights, who got a shutout effort on the mound from J.J. Landry.
Tuesday’s other games saw the Sight & Sound Wolves win their season-opener 9-5 over the host Couchiching Raiders.
John Desaulniers earned the win over Mike Jourdain.
The Raiders (1-1) had started the season with a 10-5 victory over the host Sabaskong Lakers (0-3) on May 12.
Also Tuesday, Windy’s Warriors (formerly Beef’s Warriors) cruised to a 14-2 win over the Sabaskong Cubs (1-1) in their first game of the season.
Jeremiah Windego belted two homers while Sean Councillor and Nick Hunter had one apiece.
Tyson Williams earned the over Don Smith.
The Lakers, meanwhile, fell 9-1 to the Jesse Tom Pirates at VanJura here.
Travis Tom cracked a homer while Jaden Gustafson had a strong pitching outing in the Pirates’ first-ever game.
And the Stratton Bobcats (1-0) had the biggest offensive outing of the night—a 16-10 slugfest against Rainy River.
Guy Arpin won the mound duel over Big George Jr.
Action is slated to resume tonight at 6:30 p.m. with Sight & Sound hosting the Lakers at VanJura, Windy’s Warriors facing the Pirates at Couchiching, and Couchiching visiting Sabaskong to play the Cubs.
Rainy River visits Manitou, Big Island heads to Stratton, and the Blue Knights host Dawson.
