The Barrhead Orioles defeated the Edmonton Athletics 11-6 in senior men’s AA North Central Alberta Baseball League (NCABL) action on Friday, July 11, 2014.
The Orioles got on the scoreboard first, scoring three runs on five hits to give them an early 3-0 lead. The Athletics cut into the Orioles lead when they scored one run in the top of the fourth inning. The Orioles added to their lead in the bottom of the fifth when they scored four more runs, giving them a commanding 7-1 lead through five innings.
Orioles then ran into some trouble during the top half of the sixth as the Athletics lit up starting pitcher Ryan Warehime for five runs before Corn Friesen came in to get his team out of trouble.
Orioles’ second baseman Joey Greilach discussed Warehime and Friesen’s performances.
“We got into a little bit of trouble in that inning and Corn came in, which was a really tough spot to come into, and he did a great job. Good relief pitching is very important in this league and we had that tonight,” said Greilach. “As for Ryan, this was the first time he has been a starting pitcher this year so he did an amazing job. He threw a lot of strikes and that is what it takes to win in this league. He kept the ball down, got a lot of ground balls and that is all you want from your pitcher.”
The Athletics sent seven batters to the plate in the sixth inning, cutting the Orioles lead to 7-6. During the Orioles half of the sixth, they managed to regain their five run lead, scoring four runs on four hits and three walks, giving them the 11-6 victory. With the win, the Orioles improved to 8-6 on the season.
Greilach was pleased with the team’s performance in their half of the sixth inning.
“You have to be able to bounce back after a bad inning if you want to win ball games. You are always going to have innings like the top of the sixth tonight but we got out of it and managed to put up runs in our half of the inning. It was nice to see the guys battle back and get us some runs,” Greilach said. “We are starting to hit the ball better. It is getting later in the season so everybody is getting to see more at-bats so it (the offence) is coming around well.”
The Orioles got their seventh win of the season earlier in the week when they beat the Sturgeon Paladins, 6-4 on Wednesday, July 9. The Orioles were led to victory by Orioles first baseman Jason Schaffrick, who went 3-4 with two runs and two RBI, and Orioles DH Lyle Schaffrick, who went 2-4 with two RBI.
With the two victories, the Orioles took sole possession of fifth place in the league standings, only two games out of the last playoff spot.
