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Giants pick-up split over Canada Day Weekend

Giants Hector Benitez slides home safely against the Weyburn Beavers. Photo Credit: Dan Lines

Win-Lose baseball has been the trend of late for the Fort McMurray Giants. The team has just not been able to get over the hump and string together consecutive wins to get themselves back in the Western Division playoff picture. After a disastrous start to the WMBL season that saw the Giants win just one game in their first ten, the team has played just slightly better than .500 ball, going 8-7 over their last 15 games.

The Giants remain 4.5 games back of the final playoff position after splitting a pair of two game sets over the Canada Day weekend with the Moose Jaw Miller Express and Weyburn Beavers.

The Giants fell 4-2 Thursday night at Shell Place to the Miller Express to kick off the four game home stand. The Giants jumped out in front 2-0 after the first two innings on a pair of runs from leadoff hitter Hector Benitez. However, two run innings in the 3rd and 5th for the Miller Express was all the scoring they would need. The Giants threatened at times but were unable to get a timely hit to get them back in the ball game as they left a runner on third in both the 8th and 9th inning.

Friday night it would be the Miller Express jumping out in front quickly taking a 5-1 lead after the 2nd inning as Giants starter Tyler Hodder struggled to find the strike zone early on. The local product settled down after that point, shutting the door the rest of the way and giving his team a chance to win. The Giants chipped away at the lead, scoring runs in five straight innings to take a 7-5 lead after the 7th inning.

“I have a lot of confidence in these guys and I have a lot of confidence in Tyler Hodder and we stuck with him there and he proved us right so can’t echo enough how proud of him we are for that start,” said Giants Manager Pat Riley.

Hodder pitched 7.2 innings, allowing 5 runs on 8 hits before giving way to Trevor Bauer who picked up his second save of the year as the Giants picked up the split with Moose Jaw with a 7-5 final.

Celebrating Canada’s 150th birthday on Saturday, the Giants donned commemorative red camo jerseys that would be auctioned off. The Weyburn Beavers were in town and the Beavers bats were hot as they scattered 15 hits in a 7-4 win over the Giants. The Giants managed a mere two hits in the ball game, their lowest hit total of the season.

“Gave up 15 hits and thankfully we only gave up seven there, I mean we pitched out of a lot of jams and they rolled out some really good arms and we had opportunities late once again and couldn’t come up with the timely hit,” said Riley.

Third baseman Keegan Marsden smacked a two run single in the bottom of the 6th to extend his hit streak to eight games while Fort McMurrayite Josh Iannetti recorded the other Giant hit in the ball game and now has hits in four of his last five games.

Looking to get back in the win column Sunday afternoon, the Giants sent John Reid to the mound. The Mississauga, Ontario native pitched an absolute gem, throwing a complete game as the Giants defeated the Beavers 6-2. The lefty’s strong performance on the mound was backed by a stellar catch by outfielder Tyler Friis who also chipped in with two hits offensively. Max Hewitt had three RBI in the game and had a strong weekend overall as the shortstop cashed in six runs while going 6-13 at the plate. The sparkplug offensively for the Giants continues to be Benitez who scored eight runs over the weekend and went 7-14 at the plate.

“He starts it up for us, he has quality at bats, he see’s a lot of pitches and then he hits his pitch. When he gets on base he can run, he’s a base threat every time he’s out there, really happy to have him,” said Riley on Benitez.

The Giants will hit the road this week to take on Brooks Wednesday, Okotoks Thursday before heading to Medicine Hat for a three game set over the weekend. The Giants will be back at home July 11th and 12th when they welcome the Swift Current 57’s to Shell Place.