Staff
The Rainy River Royals came to see the error of their ways–and it was not a pleasant experience.
Back-to-back errors, along with three wild pitches, in the bottom of the sixth cost the Royals four runs in a 7-3 loss to the host Stratton Eagles in Rainy River District Fastball League action Thursday evening.
With the game tied 3-3, Hayden Haw and Marc Jodoin drew consecutive walks for the sixth-place Eagles (11-6) against Royals’ starter Myron Armstrong, with Haw stealing second and then taking third on a wild pitch before Jodoin’s base on balls.
Shelby Nosan, whose RBI sacrifice fly in the fourth had cut the Royals’ lead to 3-2, then hit a hard bouncer to third baseman Marty Kreger of the 11th-place Royals (3-9-1).
But Kreger’s throw sailed wide past first baseman Tony Armstrong and rolled along the right-field fence, allowing Haw to score easily.
By the time Armstrong, who injured his leg earlier in the game, hobbled over to get the ball, Jodoin also had enough time to sprint home to put Stratton up 5-3.
With two out and Nosan on second, Logan Jackson rolled one to shortstop, but a rushed throw by Chris Stone also missed the mark at first that allowed Nosan to come all the way home.
Jackson swiped second, then took the next two bases thanks to wild pitches from Myron Armstrong.
Guy Arpin, who relieved Jackson in the middle of Rainy River’s three-run third inning, capped his streak of retiring all 10 batters in overpowering style by striking out the side looking in the seventh.
In a clash to settle first place, the host Dawson Tigers (15-1) virtually nailed down the regular-season title with a 7-3 win over the second-place Barwick Blue Knights (14-3) on Thursday.
Barwick trails Dawson by just two points, but the Tigers have two games left while the Blue Knights have just one.
At worst, the teams will finish even in points at the end of the regular season, with Dawson holding the tie-break advantage by virtue of having swept the season series.
Jeff Morrison improved to 14-0 on the rubber this season while counterpart Brandan Pratt (7-1) was handed his first setback.
Matt Godin, Jeff Kreger, and Matt Anderson all homered against Pratt.
Meanwhile, the third-place Fort Frances Braves (12-1) routed the Couchiching Raiders 17-1.
Pitcher Travis Tom (5-0) remained unbeaten on the season and also drilled his league-leading ninth homer off Wade Johnson of the fifth-place Raiders (11-5).
Mike Parisien also went deep for the Braves.
The defending champion Sight & Sound Wolves (12-5) remain in fourth place, two points up on Couchiching, after cruising to a 16-4 win over the 12th-place Manitou Thunderbirds (3-12).
Nick Wepruk earned his first pitching win of the season for the Wolves while Ian Tookenay homered against losing pitcher Mike Jourdain.
Windey’s Warriors got a shutout performance from Sean Councillor as they blanked the Sabaskong Goldeneyes 9-0.
Councillor went the distance for the eighth-place Warriors (7-8) while Cole Beacham took the loss for the Goldeneyes (2-11).
In an all-Sabaskong battle last Thursday, the 10th-place Cubs (4-13) outslugged the seventh-place Lakers (8-8-1) by a 13-9 score.
Kevin Copenace got the win over Merlin Kelly.
Another intra-reserve showdown saw the ninth-place Northwest Bay Chieftains (6-11) roll to a 21-3 hammering of the last-place Northwest Bay Juniors (0-15).
Tanner Smith beat Dan Andy in a battle of young pitchers.
Makeup games tentatively were scheduled to be played Monday while the last scheduled regular-season games were set for last night (scores unavailable).
Several teams have multiple makeup games to play before the postseason gets underway next week.
