The Devons aren’t the type of team that will out-power an opposing team in the Saskatchewan Premier Baseball League, but they will fight, battle and grind out wins.
Unfortunately, the Devons ran into left-handed pitcher Josh Burke on Monday evening and were dealt a 7-3 loss to the Regina Mets.
“We faced a good pitcher, one of the better pitchers we’ve seen,” said Don Anderson, head coach of the Devons. “Very good fastball and he kept us off balance. We got to him early, but couldn’t add on.”
Jonathan Brooks was on the mound of the Devons and was good early, but got behind on some batters through the middle innings, resulting in the Mets finding the holes in the outfield.
“Brooks kept hitters off balance too, but he did throw a lot of pitches though as he got behind a lot of hitters and mixed in a few walks, which got his pitch count up,” stated Anderson. “However, he battled for us and got us out of trouble and kept us in the ball game.”
Dylan McIntosh had an RBI single to score Josh Chow-Folden, who was injured on the play in the top of the fifth inning to tie the game. However, the Mets answered with four runs to retake the lead and secure the victory.
“It was a valiant effort at the plate with a collision to tie it,” he said. “We had a little bit of momentum, but then Jonathan ran into some control problems and walked the first two hitters. We needed a shutdown inning, but we were behind the eight-ball from the beginning. Our defensive fell asleep, which will happen when those extra pitches are thrown.”
The Devons will be at home on Saturday afternoon (1 p.m. & 3 p.m., Ross Wells Park) for a double header with the top team in the league, the Saskatoon Giants.
“We are going to go in with a positive attitude and try it keep it close,” said Anderson. “That is our game plan and try to grind out a close one.”
For more on this story, read an upcoming edition of the Times-Herald.
