The Fort McMurray Giants opened the 2018 WMBL season against the visiting Lethbridge Bulls over the weekend and were able to come away with two wins over the three game set.
Friday’s home opener turned into a bit of a marathon with the game running four hours and the rain not letting up at any point throughout the night. Despite the rain, 1,554 fans packed into Shell Place excited for the start of another summer of baseball in Fort McMurray and were treated to a 13-10 Giants victory.
“It was a great team victory and appreciate the Fort Mac community sticking that one out,” said Giants Manager Pat Riley on the Country 93.3 post-game show. “It was a little wet tonight and a four hour game to open your season can be a little tough sometimes but we appreciate the fans sticking with it and we showed a lot of resilience really is what it came down to which was great to see but a lot to build off and a lot to improve on.”
Friday’s win saw the Giants take advantage of some sloppy pitching by the Bulls. Giants batters drew 13 walks and were hit six times by pitches. The Giants built a 9-4 lead through six innings after a solid start from Fort McMurrayite Tyler Hodder on the mound. The Bulls clawed their way back with a six run 7th inning to take the lead as they got to the Giants bullpen. The Giants were able to tie the game in the bottom half and then scored three runs in the bottom of the 8th inning to come away with the win.
“Up and down the entire lineup we didn’t really chase too much, put a lot of balls in play and took our walks and that was great to see that team discipline. We took those walks and it paid off for us, we scored 13 runs and we don’t really care how we score them,” said Riley.
One player who took full advantage at the plate was Fort McMurrayite Josh Iannetti who walked once and was hit three times and ended up scoring three runs for his efforts.
“Josh Iannetti had a great night and good to see that in front of his hometown and he battled and did a good job behind the plate catching guys that he just learned about and you can’t echo that enough when catchers are trying to learn a staff of 15 (pitchers) that they’ve never met before,” said Riley of Iannetti’s strong play on both sides of the ball.
Saturday’s game was a much different contest as the Giants pulled out a 4-2 win in a great pitching battle. Giants starter David Craft went 5.2 innings allowing two runs on three hits while striking out five before Allan Brown came in relief and finished the game not allowing a hit over the final 3.1 innings while striking out three.
“Craft gave us a really good start and one of those situations where we went to Brown for a match up in the 6th inning and it paid out and then he gave us the rest of the game so overall it was a really good team win. We got timely hitting when we needed to and really happy with our play,” said Riley.
First Baseman Brandon Green crushed the first home run of the season for the Giants over the left field wall in the 4th inning to give the Giants a 2-0 lead. With the game tied 2-2 in the 8th inning, John Loschiavo hit a single that would score two runs to give the Giants the lead they needed. Loschiavo finished the game 3-4 at the plate.
“He’s a guy whose going to put it in play, he’s dangerous on the base paths as well, runs really well, plays good outfield for us and he just kind of rised up and seemed pretty comfortable and confident in that situation so happy for him and it was huge,” said Riley on the play Loschiavo.
Sunday’s game was a bit of a different story for the Giants. After leading 2-0 after the first inning, the Bulls bats woke up for the first time in the series as they scattered 17 hits over the field and racked up 17 runs to thump the home side 17-6 in the series finale.
Chris Mercure picked up the loss on the mound while Chris Panzarella had a strong afternoon at the plate going 4-5 with a double and three RBI.
The Giants are next in action Tuesday and Wednesday as they welcome the Edmonton Prospects to Shell Place. Both games are scheduled for a 7:35 p.m. first pitch. You can get your tickets at the Shell Place box office or online. If you can’t make it to the park, you can catch all the action on Country 93.3 beginning with the pre-game show at 7:20 p.m. with Taylor Pope and Richard Kapach.
