The Weyburn Senior Beavers have been their own worst enemy this year. Despite a solid pitching staff that ranks fourth in the league and a team earned-run average of 4.67 runs per game, the once-potent Beaver bats have lost their pop and haven't given the staff the support they've needed to put away opposing players.

Team batting average has sunk to .244 - second lowest in the league - as the team has managed only five hits over its past two rain-shortened seven inning games (both losses). The Beavers are third lowest in run production at 85 runs, ahead of only the last-place Moose Jaw Miller Express and the Red Deer Generals, a team that has played only 10 games this season.

In addition to a recent lack of run support at the plate, Beavers pitching has suffered from the most error-prone fielding unit in the league. Though they vastly-improved over the past week (the Beavers have not committed an error in three games), the team still leads with 57 errors committed.

Beavers coach Bob Narkaus said that, without his reliable pitching staff, he doesn't know what the team record would be.

"The story of the year this year has definitely been our staff. Without them, I don't know where we'd be," he said.

"The funny thing is, they're the ones who had all the injuries in the first two weeks of the season. It's amazing where the pitching is at with the injuries we've dealth with," he said,referring specifically to righthander Bevan Ledingham, who missed the first two weeks with a strained pectoral muscle.

The Beavers are a quality team overall, Narkaus said, and he's baffled by the team's position.

"As far as our 6-13 record, I'm still in a little disbelief that, with the type of players that we've got, we're sitting where we're at right now. The games early on that we should have won we lost late because of our defense has really come back to haunt us."

"We should be on the other end of the spectrum, but 'would of, could of, should of'," he said.

As for that playoff berth Narkaus was so confident of early in the season, he's beginning to sound as if it may be slipping away. The Beavers are still just four-and-a-half games out of fourth place, but with over half the season now in the books and the team still lacking spark, he admits something big has to happen soon.

"We're in desperation mode, no question," he said. "We're sitting in fifth, so every game from here on out is awfully important. The effort is there - we need a couple of big innings to get us going and I think it'll carry us into the weeks to come.

"The mission for the rest of the season is 'just win'. Especially for those close games. We've just got to find a way to push a run across, but it's just going to take a lot of pride and competitiveness."

The Beavers travelled to Saskatoon for three games over the weekend, but only managed to get two in, both shortened by rain.

The Beavers fell 5-0 to the Yellow Jackets on Saturday in seven innings and 1-0 in seven innings on Sunday. They will make up Friday's game later in the month.

The Beavers are on the road for the next week, playing in Moose Jaw tonight at 7 p.m, Swift Current this weekend on Friday and Saturday, and in Yorkton on Tuesday, July 12.

The Beavers' next home game is against Melville on Wednesday, July 13 at 7:30 p.m. at Tom Laing Park.