86’ers bring out the lumber

South Peace News Staff

The visiting Grouard 86’ers blasted six home runs and 16 hits in a 14-6 victory over the Whitefish Lake Hawks to win the first game of the High Prairie Men’s Fastball League final Aug. 30. The 86’ers needed only two big innings to win as they scored five runs in the fourth inning to break a 1-1 tie and added eight more in the seventh. The scoring began when Huckle Giroux singled with one out in the second inning, went to third on an error and scored on a wild pitch to give the 86’ers a 1-0 lead. However, the Hawks tied the score in their half of the second. Burton Auger led off with a double and scored on Matthew Auger’s RBI single. The floodgates opened in the fourth inning as Bruce Cunningham and Giroux led off with back-to-back home runs. Ralphie Courtorielle doubled and was sacrificed to third. He scored on Rollie Gladue’s two-out double. Randy Courtorielle reached on an error before Peter Keay doubled home both runners to make it 6-1. After that, the 86’ers never trailed although the Hawks did battle back to make a game of it. In their home half of the fourth inning, Burton Auger reached on an error and scored on Gabe Laboucan’s RBI double. Laboucan would later score on Michael Thunder’s sacrifice fly. The Hawks added a fourth run in the sixth inning. Laboucan doubled and went to third on an error. He scored on Thunder’s RBI single. However, the turning point in the game was in that inning when Thunder was doubled off first base on a soft liner off Theo Gaudette’s bat. The double play effectively killed the rally. In the seventh inning, the 86’ers exploded for eight runs. Keay led off with a bad hop triple and scored on Jesse Smith’s RBI double. Cunningham then hit a two-run inside-the-park home run, Giroux followed with another home run. Gladue added a three-run blast later in the inning and Randy Courtorielle capped the inning with another blast to right-centre. The Hawks added two runs in their half of the seventh inning on Matthew Auger’s inside-the-park home run. Burton Auger doubled with one out and scored on the play. Smith pitched the final three innings for the win. He gave up three runs, all earned, on seven hits. He struck out three and walked one. Starting pitcher Giroux pitched the first four innings. He gave up three runs, two earned, on four hits while striking out one. He did not walk a batter. Burton Auger took the loss giving up 14 runs, 11 earned, on 16 hits. He struck out five and walked one. The 86’ers outhit the Hawks in the game 16-11. The Hawks committed four errors while the 86’ers blundered once. Each team left eight men on the base. The second game of the best-of-five series goes Sept. 4 at High Prairie Jaycee Park, the third game back in Whitefish Sept. 5. If necessary, the fourth game goes Sept. 6 back at Jaycee Park. Teams are trying to start as close to 6 p.m. as possible.

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