For the second time in franchise history, the Saskatoon Berries are on a five-game winning streak after out-slugging the Fort McMurray Giants 14-6 Wednesday night at NexGen Patch at Cairns Field.
The Berries shot out to a 13-0 lead after four innings, thanks to plating five runs in the second inning and seven runs in the fourth frame. Fort McMurray didn’t help themselves in digging a huge hole as five different pitchers combined to issue eight walks and hit three Saskatoon batters while the Giants’ defence committed three errors leading to five unearned runs and the Berries had nine hits. Fort McMurray did battle back a bit – scoring their six runs over the fifth, sixth and seventh innings – before running out of outs and seeing their record drop to 0-5. The game ran three hours and 18 minutes in duration, thanks to the 360 total pitches thrown that led to 15 walks, five hit batsmen, four errors 23 hits and 20 runs in total. Last season’s Saskatoon M-V-P, Carter Beck, returned to the team from Indiana State and scored four runs with two hits from the lead-off spot to pace the offence as the Berries improved their record to 5-1 in front of 1,525 fans, sweeping both games from the Giants and winning all four games in their first homestand of the season. Saskatoon plays their next three games on the road – Friday in Moose Jaw before heading to Swift Current on Saturday and Sunday. The next home game for the Berries at NexGen Patch at Cairns Field is next Tuesday and Wednesday against the Medicine Hat Mavericks. Following are post-game media scrums with Beck and head coach Joe Carnahan plus the official box score courtesy the W-C-B-L website…..
Game Date: 06/04/2025
Fort McMurray Giants 6 AT Saskatoon Berries 14
YTD YTD
Ft.McMurray AB R H BI AVG Saskatoon AB R H BI AVG
Olaybal, E RF 4 1 3 1 .375 Beck, C CF 5 4 2 1 .400
Barry, D SS 3 1 2 0 .286 Houston, N SS 5 1 1 2 .250
Hercun, C DH 5 1 2 1 .333 Murdoch, E RF 5 1 1 1 .300
Rhoades, M 1B 4 1 1 2 .222 Sorensen, B C 4 2 1 1 .174
Harwood, S C 4 0 0 0 .125 Wesslund, C 2B 1 1 0 0 .318
Sauve, N LF 5 0 1 0 .353 Freeman, J LF 5 0 2 1 .280
Murphy, M 2B 4 2 2 1 .333 Wouters, C 1B 4 2 1 0 .346
Cook, E CF 5 0 0 0 .118 Roell, M 3B 3 2 2 2 .571
Scholzen, G 3B 1 0 0 0 .125 Zdunich, T DH 5 1 2 3 .174
Cavanaugh, Z 3B 2 0 0 0 .000
37 6 11 5 37 14 12 11
Ft.McMurray 0 0 0 0 4 1 1 0 0 - 6 11 3
Saskatoon 1 5 0 7 0 0 0 1 x - 14 12 1
2B--Olaybal, E RF (3), Sorensen, B C (3), Wouters, C 1B (1), Roell, M 3B
(1), Zdunich, T DH (2). 3B--Rhoades, M 1B (1), Beck, C CF (1).
RBI--Olaybal, E RF (5), Hercun, C DH (2), Rhoades, M 1B 2 (4), Murphy, M
2B (2), TOTALS 5 (0), Beck, C CF (1), Houston, N SS 2 (4), Murdoch, E RF
(5), Sorensen, B C (5), Freeman, J LF (3), Roell, M 3B 2 (2), Zdunich, T
DH 3 (4), TOTALS 11 (0). HP--Barry, D SS (1), Houston, N SS (3), Sorensen,
B C (1), Wesslund, C 2B (2), Roell, M 3B (1). SB--Sorensen, B C (1).
E--Rhoades, M 1B (1), Scholzen, G 3B 2 (2), Roell, M 3B (1).
LOB--Ft.McMurray 11, Saskatoon 12. DP--M. Rhoades(1B) - D. Barry(SS), M.
Murphy(2B) - D. Barry(SS) - M. Rhoades(1B), C. Wesslund(2B) - N.
Houston(SS) - C. Wouters(1B).
YTD
IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Ft.McMurray
Yu, C (L,0-1) 0.2 0 1 1 2 0 0 13.49
Burns, R 1.0 4 5 2 1 1 0 15.00
Billings, C 1.1 1 2 2 3 1 0 7.36
Wilson, B 0.2 3 5 3 1 2 0 10.12
Fugle, L 2.1 2 0 0 2 3 0 0.00
Simpson, J 2.0 2 1 1 0 1 0 2.25
8 12 14 9 9 8 0
Saskatoon
Yeager, M (W,1-1) 5.0 7 4 4 1 6 0 6.75
Beamin, A 1.0 2 1 1 2 0 0 6.75
Kopp, C 0.1 1 1 1 2 1 0 6.75
Plain, C 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 5.40
McCombs, N 1.0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0.00
Rude, D 1.0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0.00
9 11 6 6 6 10 0
WP--Yu, C 2 (2). PB--Harwood, S, Sorensen, B. HB--Yu, C 2 (2), Wilson, B
(1), Fugle, L (1), Yeager, M (1). SO--Olaybal, E, Barry, D, Harwood, S,
Sauve, N 3, Murphy, M, Cook, E 2, Scholzen, G, Houston, N, Murdoch, E 2,
Wesslund, C, Freeman, J 2, Wouters, C, Zdunich, T. BB--Olaybal, E, Barry,
D, Rhoades, M, Harwood, S, Murphy, M, Scholzen, G, Beck, C, Murdoch, E,
Sorensen, B, Wesslund, C 4, Wouters, C, Roell, M. BF--Yu, C 5 (5), Burns, R
10 (22), Billings, C 8 (22), Wilson, B 8 (16), Fugle, L 11 (11), Simpson, J
8 (17), Yeager, M 23 (42), Beamin, A 7 (21), Kopp, C 4 (10), Plain, C 2
(8), McCombs, N 5 (5), Rude, D 3 (6). P-S--Yu, C 24-10, Burns, R 31-19,
Billings, C 32-13, Wilson, B 29-18, Fugle, L 43-23, Simpson, J 26-18,
Yeager, M 86-55, Beamin, A 23-13, Kopp, C 23-10, Plain, C 7-5, McCombs, N
21-13, Rude, D 15-11.
T--3:18.