The month of June has not been kind to the Fort McMurray Giants. After a promising 3-1 start to the Western Major Baseball League season, the Giants lost 15 of their next 17 games.
The stretch of losses was highlighted by a 10 game losing streak that finally came to an end Wednesday in Brooks as the Giants beat the Bombers 7-5.
Tyler Hodder pitched six solid innings allowing four runs on six hits while striking out six batters. Matt Vonderschmidt, Allan Brown and David Craft came on in relief to shut the door the rest of the way. Offensively, Drew Dickerson and Brandon Green used the long ball to kickstart the Giants offence.
Despite a 6-16 start to the season, the Giants sit just 2.5 games out of a playoff spot with still over half the season to go.
A seven game homestand which kicks off Thursday night at Shell Place against the Edmonton Prospects could potentially turn the Giants season around. The Giants have been fairly good at home so far this season with a 3-5 record. It has been on the road where the club has struggled mightily picking up just three wins in 14 games away from home.
Pitching was a strong point for the Giants early in the season but the pitching staff have struggled of late. During the team’s 10 game losing streak the Giants allowed 10 or more runs in six of those games. But all the blame can’t be put on the pitching staff as the team failed to score more than two runs in five of those losses.
A real bright spot on the club this summer has been third year Giant Nicklas Cardinal who has a 2.15 ERA in four starts. The Bonnyville native has 15 strikeouts in 26 innings and has even chipped in offensively. On Tuesday night with the Giants trailing in Brooks, Cardinal came into the game in the 7th inning and ended up going 2-2 at the plate with a solo homerun. A lone bright spot in a 19-5 loss.
The hottest Giant of late is BJ Minarcin who has 10 hits over his last six games and is batting .500 during that stretch. Another Giant who is heating up offensively is outfielder Jordan Stickler who has a hit in six straight games and has raised his batting average to .317 on the year.
The Giants will take on the Prospects (8-13) Thursday and Friday at Shell Place before welcoming Melville (6-14) to town on Canada Day and the holiday Monday. They will then finish up their homestand with a three game set against the Okotoks Dawgs (14-6).
