The Brooks Bombers defeated the Lethbridge Bulls by a score of 10-6 on Tuesday night. This would mark the teams third trip to Spitz Stadium in less that a week having lost all three meetings with the Bulls this season and losers of five straight games.
Oshawas Grayden Stauffer would be on the mound for Brooks and the Bulls would once again send out Brayden Dewitt. The Bombers would get off to a quick start with RBI’s from Kelton Phillips and Antony Gilbert to put the Bombers up 2-0. Stauffer would cruise through the first three innings with minimal damage.
In the third after Payton Matthews swipped his league leading 12th base lf the season Jacob Gillis drove him home for the third run of the game. Then in the fourth Joseph Gelpi hit his first homerun as a Bomber. Although it was only a solo shot it sure got the team fired up as they got to put the red homerun helmet on him for the first time this season.
Stauffer would start to run into trouble in the fourth inning where he let up a single then walked and hit batters respectively. Head coach Dan Morgan had to make the tough decision to pull him from the game.
“Grayden did a great job today, even when he did struggle a little he always looked in control”, said Pitching coach Jake Zettel.
Grant Harvill would come in and let up the first run of the game for the Bulls but was lights put from there going three and thwo thirds giving up no runs on one hit and striking out five. He silenced the Bulls bats and allowed the Bombers to stay on the gas. Jacob Gillis, Antony Gilbert and Ned Ceklic all reached base before the Bombers went down with back to back strikeouts bringing up the number nine hitter Maddox Shaver. The second basemen lined one to the oppisite field to clear the bases with a tripple that really opened the game up.
“We have been waiting for a hit like that for a while now, It was nice to see it be Maddox, this really sets the standard for us moving forward”, said Morgan.
Brooks would go quiet until the Bottom of the ninth when Ned Ceklic got his first hit of the season much to the ovation of his teammates. It has been a long time coming and was certainly a releif for the young first baseman.
“That was awesome, Ned works so hard every day and its great to see it pay off for him in that moment”, said Morgan.
The Bulls would add a few more runs in the last two innings but eventually the Bombers losing streak would come to an end. Between games they had a pair of days off that were spent differently. Sunday afternoon the team was helping brand cattle and monday was a longer practice day.
“I think the two days off helped us reset, especially with the branding I think it really helped us bond as a group and forget about baseball for a while”, said Morgan.
Dan Morgan continues to be impressed with how his group has bought in and fans shouldnt be suprised if this team goes on a run. Next up for the Bombers is another matchup at Seaman Stadium in Okotoks Wednesday night before returining home for a four game homestand before a week long Saskatchewan road trip.