Over 500 loud fans packed Shell Place on Friday evening and left happy as the Fort McMurray Giants (1-5) picked up their first win of the season, defeating the Okotoks Dawgs (4-2) 12-5.
“I love the atmosphere, all these fans are super passionate about baseball,” said Pat Riley, manager of the Giants. “The guys are starting to believe that and hopefully we can stick it out and get some wins for the home crowd.”
The Giants kicked off the scoring in the bottom of the second when Corey Conklin sent a ball into the alley that plated one. Next up was Joey Nicastro, Nicastro blooped one over the third basemen’s head that saw Keegan Marsden and Corey Conklin score to give the Giants 3-0 lead.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Giants blew it wide open thanks to a two-run homer from Keegan Marsden that landed off the scoreboard in right centre field that saw the Giants take a 5-0 lead.
The Giants didn’t stop there.
Up stepped Max Hewitt, he cleared two Giants players off the bases with a two-run triple that saw the Giants lead increase to 7-0.
The Giants went on to add one more in the bottom of the fourth to lead 8-0 after four innings.
After a scoreless top of the fifth from the Dawgs, the Giants kept their foot on the peddle in the bottom half adding another four runs capped off with a two-run RBI double from Richard Ortiz to increase their lead to 12-0.
The Dawgs scored two in the seventh, and three in the ninth, but it was too little, too late as the Fort McMurray Giants walked away with their most impressive game of the season so far.
“It’s good to get the first one out of the way, we had contributions from a lot of players today offensively, and Tyler Hodder was fantastic on the mound,” said Riley. “We got together during our off day on Thursday, and we knew we were better than our record, and the boys showed that tonight.”
Fort McMurray’s Tyler Hodder was fantastic going seven innings, giving up just two earned runs while fanning four Dawgs batters.
Kyle Gamez and Jason Buss capped off the win for the Giants.
The Dawgs and Giants hit the field once again on Saturday evening in game two of a three-game set, with first pitch set for 7:35 p.m. at Shell Place.
Tickets are available at Giants Tickets, or at the Shell Place Box Office.
You can also tune into Country 93.3 beginning at 7:20 with the Pregame show with Taylor Pope and Darnell Duff.
