Staff
With two extra-inning wins against last year’s league finalists, the Dawson Tigers have established themselves as contenders to be in this year’s championship series.
Jeff Morrison improved to 10-0 as he pitched the Tigers to a 3-2 victory over the defending champion Sight & Sound Wolves in nine innings last Thursday.
It was the ninth-straight win for first-place Dawson (11-1), who had topped the Barwick Blue Knights 25-22 in nine frames earlier this season.
Morrison, who has more than twice as many wins as anyone else in the RRDFL, went the distance in what is shaping up to be one of the best pitching campaigns in league history.
The right-hander has given up just 12 runs in his 10 starts, including two shutouts.
He was helped out on offence by Austin Jack, who belted his second homer of the season off losing pitcher John Desaulniers as the fourth-place Wolves (8-3) lost for the second time in three games.
In other action Thursday, Barwick (10-1) dumped the cellar-dwelling Northwest Bay Juniors 15-5 for its ninth-straight win to remain half-a-game back of top spot.
Brandan Pratt, the team’s de facto ace with JJ Landry on the shelf for possibly the season following an appendectomy, is now 4-0 after topping Aiden Morrisseau and the winless Juniors (0-11).
Mike Anderson homered for the Knights while Domi Allan went deep for Northwest Bay.
The third-place Fort Frances Braves (8-1), missing five regulars from the lineup, suffered their first loss of the season after falling 15-10 to the fifth-place Couchiching Raiders (8-4).
Sheldon Kelly Jr. cracked his third homer in two games against Braves’ pitcher Don “Kimbi” Copenace.
He also earned the win on the mound despite giving up homers to Chris Bourgeois and Jacob Jack.
Meanwhile, the Rainy River Royals (2-6) moving into 10th place with a 9-7 victory over the struggling Manitou Thunderbirds (1-9).
Myron Armstrong earned the win while Dan Servello was tagged with the loss for 13th-place Manitou, which got a homer from Lionel Horton.
The other game Thursday saw the Sabaskong Lakers used a “Moddy” Kelly homer to edge the Northwest Bay Chieftains 4-3.
Pitcher Merlin Kelly helped the seventh-place Lakers (6-5) stopped their four-game losing streak while Don Smith took the loss for the ninth-place Chieftains (4-6).
Seven games were scheduled last night (weather permitting), with scores unavailable at press time.
Action resumes tomorrow at 7 p.m. with the Braves hosting the Chieftains at VanJura while Sight & Sound heads to Northwest Bay to face the Juniors.
Eighth-place Windey’s Warriors (5-6) are at Manitou while Rainy River visits the 12th-place Sabaskong Cubs (2-10).
The Lakers and 11th-place Sabaskong Goldeneyes (2-7) will square off for local bragging rights while the sixth-place Stratton Eagles (7-4) will try to topple Barwick.
Couchiching and Dawson have the byes.
At the annual Canada Day tournament in Barwick on the weekend, Dawson nipped the Braves 5-4 in the title game.
Morrison earned the win over Jeff Barton and struck out Jaden Gustafson with the bases loaded in the seventh to end the game.
