Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
Every Friday, Murray Wood takes a look back at the week's news and decides who's hot... and who's not. This week's list ...
Nick Stinson is a long way from Kennesaw, Ga. but on Saturday afternoon he felt right at home at Cairns Field.
The Saskatoon Berries first baseman put on a show in the team’s home opener, going 4-for-4 at the plate with four RBIs in a 7-6 comeback win over the visiting Weyburn Beavers.
“Hearing that crowd pop it was such a cool feeling,” Stinson said. “I talked about it a couple of times after just how great the crowd was.”
Stinson was all over the score sheet on Saturday as he also added two runs and came through with a stolen base, helping the Berries to a third consecutive win to begin the Western Canadian Baseball League season.
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“That kid is something else,” said Berries outfielder Nash Nichols. “He’s a character, I love him to death already. I met him two days ago and he’s awesome. He’s a character and he just swings it, man.”
The Berries rallied late against the Beavers in a game which Saskatoon struggled defensively, as they committed six errors on the afternoon and gave Weyburn multiple chances to take a stranglehold on the home opener.
It was a much different script compared to the first two games of the series on Thursday and Friday, in which Saskatoon outscored Weyburn by a 31-3 combined margin.
Berries head coach Joe Carnahan said it was far from the cleanest game his team has ever played, but they did enough to end the day with a win.
“We’re not always going to play our best game,” Carnahan said.
“It’s important for us to stay even keeled, level and find ways to win when we don’t play our best game. I thought the guys did a good job of that sticking with it.”
Saskatoon did not hold a lead until the eighth inning, where Nichols hit a single to centre field which cashed the go-ahead run and allowed the Berries to close out the game with a trio of ground outs in the top of the ninth.
“It just shows a lot of grit as I like to say,” Nichols said. “It’s just next play, next pitch, looking ahead. If you mess up, get after it next time.”
Despite struggling in their first two games of the series, Weyburn roared out of the gates in the first inning from short stop Jared Kramp as he connected on an Owen Stempel offering to the outfield which scored a pair of runs.
Saskatoon was quick to respond in the bottom of the first inning however, with Stinson picking up his first two RBIs of the game with a single up the middle to cash Brock Laird and Ethan Murdoch to tie the game at 2-2.
In the top of the third inning, Weyburn’s Joe Madill crushed a pitch from the Berries’ Dallen Rude over the wall along the right field foul line for a solo home run and a 3-2 lead.
Again, Saskatoon managed to answer the call with a sacrifice-fly from catcher Gavin Panks to score Stinson from third base to tie the score heading to the fourth inning.
Patience at the plate paid off for the Beavers shortly after with a Robert Gurney double to the outfield scoring Anthony Cortese, before a ground out by Hugh Montgomery brought Gurney across home plate to make it a 5-3 game.
Saskatoon got a huge break in the bottom of the fifth inning with Stinson up to bat for the third time through the order. The Berries infielder poked a pitch to deep centre field for a double, which turned into a triple on a Weyburn fielding error and eventually an inside-the-park home run on a throwing error to cut the gap to 5-4.
“I was trying to pick up my third base coach (Chance Wheatley),” Stinson said.
“I saw him moving his arms and I’m like, ‘Okay, something is happening.’ I turned on my horse and then I get around third and I see the ball go away, so I just sprinted home.”
Errors turned their ugly head on Saskatoon in the seventh inning with back to back mistakes from a throwing error to get Weyburn’s Brayden Mayencourt in scoring position, which was followed up by a ball ripped by Kramp through Stinson’s glove to give the Beavers a two-run lead.
Stinson redeemed himself in the bottom of the seventh with an RBI double to score Laird and Gael Salinas, as he finished his day at the plate with a perfect on-base percentage with four hits on four trips.
In the eighth inning with their offence pressing, Saskatoon executed back-to-back steals from Nathan Houston and Mason Gaines to put runners at second and third base for Nichols at the dish who came through with the eventual game-winning at-bat.
“We got some speedy guys on base, able to steal a base there which was really huge,” Nichols said. “Really just trying to get the ball in the outfield, I fortunately got the job done there and got the pitch I wanted.”
Tanner Hosick closed out the game with three up, three down in the top of the ninth inning to keep Saskatoon undefeated on the season in front of 2,218 fans at Cairns Field.
“The environment here today was unreal,” Nichols said. “It’s something I’ve never been a part of. To see the town and the community come out and support us like they did today, it was awesome.”
According to Carnahan there’s plenty to clean up for the final game of the series on Sunday against Weyburn, but added the way his team rallied is exactly the kind of blueprint they’ll need come July and August.
“The more adversity you can face, the better it is down the road and test what kind of group that you have,” Carnahan said.
“We got a really good group of guys and looking forward to having the season with them here.”
The Berries (3-0) will go for the series sweep against the Beavers with a 1 p.m. opening pitch at Cairns Field on Sunday.
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