Team Saskatchewan struggles vs. Quebec, Ontario at Canada Cup

Saskatchewan took their fair share of lumps Friday at the Baseball Canada Cup in two lopsided losses.
The team, which includes Moose Jaw Heartland Agro Cardinals co-coach Roger Anholt and players Terry McNabb and Cody Tkachuk, lost 9-3 to Quebec in the morning and 11-1 to Ontario in the evening to drop their record to 1-4, and needing a win to get out of the Pool A basement in the tournament, which is taking place in Medicine Hat among the best 16- and 17- year olds ballplayers.
"We made so many baserunning mistakes today, and we made errors," said Anholt.
"We had bats that weren't quality at-bats and it was kind of disappointing after what we had done against B.C. and after what we had done against Ontario the first time we played them."
Things were going well in the game against Quebec, with Saskatchewan up 1-0, until the top of the fifth.
Four runs came across for Quebec when Saskatchewan coughed up four hits and had a couple of errors.
"Looking in the other dugout, if we had gotten up three or four runs, we might have ran away with it," Anholt said.
"We got up run, and we had . . . opportunities to score runs, and we probably had more baserunners than they did in the first few innings, but we just couldn't get them in."
Saskatchewan "stopped playing" in the last few innings, Anholt said.
Against Ontario, things didn't get any better. Ontario put up at least two runs an inning until the bottom of the fifth, when the final run of the game crossed home after a wild pitch.
"We weren't in it right from the beginning," said Anholt. "It was a day of mental and physical mistakes. With the pool we're in, that just can't happen."
McNabb pitched in the Quebec game and will likely pitch again Saturday. But Tkachuk has been nursing a thumb injury through most of the season, but Friday it caught up to him. While he was warming up McNabb in the morning game, Tkachuk re-aggravated the injury and was unable to play in the evening game. His status is up in the air for the rest of the tournament.
Saskatchewan plays British Columbia (2-3), the only team they've beaten, in their last round robin game Saturday afternoon. Beating the defending Canadian champions twice is going to be a tough task.
"Anybody in the pool we're in is tough," Anholt said. "We have a chance, though. We live to play another day."
Saskatchewan will then have at least one more game in the playoff round