BOUNCE BACK GAME FOR AXEMEN IN ROUT OF ATHLETICS

Posted June 17, 2014


BOUNCE BACK GAME FOR AXEMEN IN ROUT OF ATHLETICS

After being swept by the Westlock Red Lions on Sunday afternoon at Keller Field causing the Axemen to fall in the standings to fifth place, Camrose desperately needed to have a big bounce back game on Tuesday night versus the Edmonton Athletics to keep pace. An extremely slow start by the Axemen, being no hit through four and two thirds innings by Athletics start Nick Audet, was erased in a big way with a ten run sixth inning to put the game out of reach and returning the Axemen to the win column.

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E LOB
Camrose Axemen 0 0 0 0 3 10 1 14 9 3 8
Edmonton Athletics 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 3 8 4 9

Win - Cory Martz (2-0)

Loss - Nick Audet

In need of a big win, Manager Bryan Toles turned to right hander Cory Martz for his second start of the season. Early on Martz would find himself in trouble loading the bases after back to back singles by P Nick Audet and LF Jeremy Elkow. 1B Mark Trela would move both into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt before Martz would load them on a walk to 2B Tyson Stasiuk. But once again Martz would zone in and get a fly out by C Blair Giduck to right field where the Athletics would elect to not challenge the arm of Axemen RF Kris Kushnerick early in the game to keep the bases loaded. Martz would end the threat with a big pop up of CF Peter Shepert in foul territroy for C Kris Johnson to secure to end the inning. 

The Athletics would strike first as Martz would hit SS Ian Aspinall with a pitch to lead off the bottom of the second inning. After a wild pitch would move Aspinall into scoring position Martz would catch RF Connor Baillie looking for his first of eight strikeouts in the game for out number one. A ground out by 3B Gustavo Saldago would give the Axemen two outs but P Nick Audet would reach on an error to SS Chance Wheatley to score the first run of the game and the third unearned run for Martz in 2014. 

While Martz would settle down to hold the Athletics off of the scoreboard through six innings, it was not without some clutch pitching and defence. In the fourth inning CF Peter Shepert and SS Ian Aspinall would both reach with singles but Martz would catch Shepert trying to steal third base for out number one. With one out Martz would record strikeouts four and five to once again end the Athletics threat and the inning. 

Athletics P Nick Audet through four innings was pitching an absolute gem against the Axemen who looked like the same struggling offence that was seen by fans at Keller Field on Sunday. Other than a second inning walk to DH Joe Pasychnyk and CF Cal Zimmer reaching on an error to Aspinall in the third inning, Audet was able to keep the Axemen off of the base paths until two outs in the fourth inning. After getting RF Kris Kushnerick to fly out to deep left field and 1B Brett Harke to deep right field, C Kris Johnson would finally collect a hit on a flare into right field. It was a sign that finally the Axemen might get a break or two after seeing so many flares fall in for base hits on Sunday for the Red Lions, it was about time they would catch break. It also would open the flood gates for the offense. 3B Dan Enright would work a walk out of Audet to put runnners at first and second for CF Cal Zimmer. Already coming up clutch so many times for the Axemen in 2014, Zimmer looked primed to do it again but grounded weakly to SS Ian Aspinall who would field the ball cleanly and make a strong throw to 1B Mark Trela as Zimmer was hustling down the line. The ball appeared to handcuff Trela at first base as the left handed throwing first baseball crossed his body as the throw began tailing away towards home plate. The error would prove extremely costly extending the inning with the bases would be loaded for young SS Chance Wheatley. Hitless in his last three games, Wheatley would finally break out ripping a single into right field to score Johnson and Enright and to put the Axemen up 2-1 with only a pair of hits so far in the game. LF Jordan Riopel would collect hit number thirteen on the season and RBI number nine on a broken bat single through the left side of the Athletics infield to extend the lead to 3-1. 

With some life, the Axemen offense would strike again in the sixth inning for a total of ten runs as sixteen hitters would walk to the plate in what was an ugly inning for the Athletics. Audet would start the inning by having DH Joe Pasychnyk and RF Kris Kushnerick reach base to send 1B/Manager Mark Trela to the mound to make a pitching change and bring in Tyler Letain. Letain would get a quick out on a fly ball to centre field off the bat of 1B Brett Harke, but would then walk the bases loaded by issuing a walk to C Kris Johnson before walking 3B Dan Enright and CF Cal Zimmer for a pair of easy RBIs. Trela would once again go to the bullpen, bringing in Peter Shepert who would be promotly greeted by SS Chance Wheatley. Already with a bases loaded hit in the game, Wheatley would strike again this time sending a ball into the right centre gap to clear the bases with another three RBIs giving him five on the night and ten on the season, good for a team leading tie with Joe Pasychnyk. Shepert would square up a pitch to the back of LF Jordan Riopel before 3B Paul Ofrim would hit the Axemen's second double of the inning to score Wheatley and push the score to 9-1 Axemen. DH Joe Pasychnyk would make it 10-1 on a RBI single and Shepert would hit his second Axemen of the inning drilling RF Kris Kushnerick in the ribs to load the bases once again before finally getting out number two of the inning against 1B Brett Harke, who was also out number one of the inning about thirty minutes prior. C Kris Johnson would make it 12-1 Axemen on his second single of the game and an error to the Athletics second baseman off the bat of 2B Dan Enright would make it 13-1 Axemen before the inning would finally end on SS Chance Wheatley's (batting with the bases loaded for the third time in the game and second time in the inning) sharp ground ball that popped up off of the Footz Field turf and ended up off the chest of 1B Tyler Letain to the groans of everyone on the field.

P Cory Martz would come back out to end the game for the Axemen in the bottomo of the seventh and became the victim of some poor defence by the Axemen who looked to struggle with the focus necessary to end the ball game. After giving up a walk to start the inning, Martz would record his eight strikeout of the game against Nick Audet. 2B Dan Enright would commit an error on a ground ball up the middle and instead of two outs the Axemen were still faced with one out when P Cory Martz would face some indecision before making the Axemen's second error of the inning to load the bases. RBIs by Doug Glebe and Blair Giduck put up another two unearned runs on the board and making the game 14-3. The Axemen would finally end the game when Cory Gilliam would hit a sharp ground ball to 3B Paul Ofrim who would promptly step on the bag for out number two before sending a dart across the diamond to record the game ending double play. 

The win puts the Axemen at 6-3 and back into the playoff race after a disappointing Sunday in Westlock and more importantly got some struggling hitters going with some key hits. With three unearned runs in the game, Martz has yet to allow an earned run in 2014 as both runs against the Sherwood Park Athletics were also the result of some Axemen lapses in defence. 

The next NCABL action for the Axemen will be on Wednesday June 25th as the Sturgeon Paladins come to Harry Andreassen Field in the first meeting of 2014 between the two teams. Last year the Axemen were able to sweep the Paladins on the back of a Tyson Dyck home run in Camrose and a rout in Bon Accord in what was originally scheduled for a double header but split up over two dates due to the weather. The Axemen are currently on an eight game winning streak at Harry Andreassen Field, dating back to July of 2013. First pitch is scheduled for 7:15pm.



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