The Weyburn Senior Beavers have won three of their last four games, taking them out of a 16-game losing streak and placing the team three games behind Regina in the race for a spot in the playoffs.

The Beavers could quite possibly make the playoffs as they will be playing Regina three more times this season. "We have to take three away from Regina, that will be the key goal for this team," said head coach Eldon Dallas.

The Beavers saw an end of their losing streak after a 9-4 win against Melville on July 10. Things had started off badly for the team as Melville had a lead of 3-1 after six innings. The starting run for the Beavers was scored by Gerad Fox, from a single by Destry Rice.

Starting pitcher Jerry A'Hearn suffered the three runs scored by Melville and was relieved at the mound by Evan Schultz. Schultz pitched a one hit, no run sixth inning to keep the score 3-1 going into the seventh. It was the top of the seventh when the Beavers defeated the Melville lead.

First an unearned run came in by Brennan Luffman, then Riley Gavello doubled to right field to bring in teammates Mike Pettibone, Rice and Fox. This made the score 5-3 in the Beavers' favour.

Even after Melville scored another run in the bottom of the seventh, the Beavers would not let go of their lead. Noah Trujillo strengthened the lead by scoring a run in the eighth by stealing home. Then in the ninth three more runs were scored by the Beaver team.

Gavello tripled to bring in one run, then was brought in by Braden Raskob-Smith. Smith was able to score the third run for the Beavers after Trujillo grounded out to the first base. With Melville leaving two men on base in the top of the ninth, the Beavers ended their losing streak with a 9-4 win.

The Beavers then played a really close home game against Regina on July 12, however they lost to Regina by one run with a score of 3-2. Luffman started on the mound, pitching four innings with only one run earned off three hits. George Sakai then pitched for three innings, with no runs earned off him, and Matt Bauman finished the last two innings and had two runs scored off two hits.

The game was tied 1-1 by the end of the second inning; the first Beaver run was scored by Gavello after Cody Pride singled him in. Through strong pitching on both sides of the fence, the score remained 1-1 until the ninth inning. There was also some very strong defense in the outfield and infield. There was a beautiful catch by Michael Avila in the fourth inning for the first out of that inning and a stunning throw from catcher Pride to third baseman Braden Messer for a much-needed last out of the fifth inning.

This was the first time this season that Messer played third base for the Beavers, though he has played the position before. "It felt good and I really felt comfortable out there."

It was the ninth inning when Regina took two more runs off Bauman to take the lead 3-1. The Beavers then came up to bat hoping to reclaim the game from the Red Sox. With Gerald Fox grounding out and Mat Larson striking out, it took Gavello to be hit by a pitch for the Beavers to get on base. Gavello then advanced to second on a wild pitch and was brought home after Mike Pettibone singled to center field. However Pettibone was left on base and the Beavers were unable to catch the win from Regina.

Messer thought that the team played much better against Regina this time than their first two experiences against the Red Sox team. "There was a difference of a couple of hits, but I think we just had a bad day in Regina."

The Beavers saw another win when they faced the Saskatoon Yellow Jackets at Tom Laing Park on Saturday evening and walked away with a 5-3 win. A'Hearn started on the mound, with three hits, three runs and three errors being earned off him. Jones then pitched for four innings and Bauman for the last two innings, and neither pitcher gave away any additional runs to the Saskatoon team.

It was a double by Mat Larson that gave the Beavers their first lead in the first inning, with the run scored by Rice. "It felt pretty good to get the hit, we have been struggling with getting runs recently," said Larson. "I think we are a bit more confident now, especially after playing more motivated after the Alberta road trip."

Gavello then reached first on a fielder's choice, bringing in a second run by Fox to give the Beavers an early 2-0 lead. A home run scored by the Saskatoon team in the top of the second inning gave them three runs, but the Beavers did not let the lead be taken from them so easy.

They returned with two runs scored in the top of the second inning, after a single by Fox brought in Trujillo earned and Rice unearned, the error also allowed Fox to advance all the way to third. He was left on base after Pettibone grounded out to short stop. The score remained 4-3 in Weyburn's favour until the bottom of the eight, when a double by Avila brought in a run by Gavello. The top of the ninth was handled easily by Bauman, so the Beavers kept the 5-3 win against the Jackets.

"I hit it pretty good, it was just lucky that the centre missed the play on it," commented Fox. "The hit was good timing, because as soon as Saskatoon hit the home run, I was thinking here we go again. Then we got guys on bases and took back the game from them."

Then on Sunday, in an away game against Yorkton, who currently leads the East division, the Beavers took a strong 11-5 win against the Cardinals. George Sakai pitched for four innings, allowing six hits, four runs and taking three errors, A'Hearn pitched a no-hitter inning and Bauman had three innings with two hits, one run and taking one error.

The score was tied between the two teams after two innings; the Cardinals took two runs in the first and a single by KC McCormick and Rice earned two Weyburn runs in the second inning. It was the defining third inning that gave Weyburn their lead. Smith doubled to left field to score Larson and Pettibone, then Gavello scored on a passed ball. Cody Pride singled to bring in Smith and Rice singled to bring in Pride. Total runs scored by the Beavers in the third inning was five.

Yorkton took a run in the top of the third, and the score remained 7-3 in the Beavers favour until the fifth inning. A single by Larson scored runs by Pettibone and Rice to give the Beavers two more, and a single run by Yorkton brought the score to 9-4 at the end of the fifth. There were no runs scored by either team in the sixth, a single by Fox brought in a run by Rice for the Beavers in the seventh, and a run scored by Fox unearned in the ninth took the Beavers to 11 runs in total. Yorkton was only able to take one more run in the ninth, leaving the score 11-5 in Weyburn's favor.

The Senior Beavers played Regina Tuesday night, but the results were unavailable due to publishing deadlines. They also play tonight, July 18, at Tom Laing Park, in a rescheduled game against Moose Jaw at 7 p.m. The team will be back at Tom Laing Park on Friday, July 20, to face off against Yorkton again. They also have two away weekend games, one in Yorkton and the other in Regina.