The Weyburn Beavers were beat out of the first round of playoffs over the weekend by the Swift Current 57’s, ending their season for 2019.
The 57’s had home field advantage for game one on Thursday. The Beavers started off hot with Tyler Scott hitting a sacrifice fly to centre field to bring Justin Summers home in the top of the third. Then in the top of the sixth, Jack Barrie hit a single to centre field to allow Scott to score.
However, the Beavers literally dropped the ball and allowed the 57’s to score five runs in the bottom of the sixth. While the team was able hold off their opponent from scoring again, they were unable to regain their footing offensively and took the 5-2 loss.
Following that defeat, the Beavers acted as host for game two on Friday with hopes to force game three.
Dominic Sere got the Beavers up on the board first by hitting a single to right field, which allowed Barrie to come home in the bottom of the second. A one-man home run by the 57’s tied up the score in the top of the third, but Scott quickly answered back in the bottom of that inning by hitting a single to second base, giving Summers an easy sprint from third to home.
With bases fully loaded and down 5-2, Barrie stepped up to bat in the bottom of the fifth and hit a single to right field to bring Drake Pilat home. Scott was also able to score on that hit due to an error made by the catcher.
The chances of a game three looked quite slim as the Beavers were down 9-4 in the bottom of the ninth. With men on first and second and two outs on the line, Barrie came through in the clutch and launched one out of the park. His 20th dinger of the season was made complete with a celebratory bat flip as the ball soared over the fence.
The Beavers and their fans were on the edge of their seats as Ryan Gaab stepped up to bat next. The field erupted in cheers when Gaab was gifted a chance to make it to second base due to an error made by the 57’s pitcher. The guys now seemed to be filled with a newfound hope that they could at least send the game to extra innings, but it was too good to be true as the Beavers ended their season with a 9-7 loss.
Despite their season being cut short, the Weyburn Beavers accomplished great things this season.
As a team, the Beavers set a WCBL record for most wins a in a row with 16 straight, Garrett Perez broke the league record for the most stolen bases in a single season with 41 stolen bases, Barrie broke the team’s record for most home runs in a single season with 20, and six players and two coaches were chosen to attend the WCBL All-Star game.
