AXEMEN NO-HIT BY SHERWOOD PARK IN 11-4 LOSS

The Sherwood Park Athletics tossed a combined no hitter as the Axemen struggled at the plate on Thursday night in a 11-4 rout in the A’s season opener. Despite scoring four runs, the Axemen were unable to do much against the trio of Brennan Nelson, Darrin Reay and Cody McElroy and A’s third baseman Kent Morrison took away the only hard hit ball with a falling/diving play at the hot corner. This no hitter is the Athletics second no hitter in franchise history. 

With much of the roster away from the team due to work, family, coaching or other ball team commitments, the Axemen were forced into a situation where players would play out of position for much of the night, with no better example than NCABL All Star outfielder Jordan Riopel making his first regular season start at short stop for Camrose. The last time Riopel suited up at short it was against the Calgary Pirates at the no defunct Athletics/Warriors Tournament way back in 2009 at the legendary Spartan Park in Edmonton. The Axemen infielders, who have practiced and played on nothing but shale infields so far this year, quickly learnt the challenge of playing on an incredibly lush grass infield. Also joining Riopel in the infield was catcher/outfielder Kris Johnson playing third base and short stop and pitcher Shawn Noble starting at first base before moving over to third base at one point in the game. Fans also got to see a brand new outfield for the Axemen as left fielder Shaun Painter, centre fielder Zach Bailey and right fielder Matt Andreassen are all Axemen rookies in 2017. 

While the Axemen defence committed a total of four errors on the evening, two in each of the Athletics big innings, the let down were the plays that were not made by Camrose in the field that led to a large portion of the eleven runs scored by the Athletics. Whether it was tough bounces off of the edging of the infield grass to by pass a fielder, a snap throw pick off at first base that looked oh so close or a ground ball that should have been a double play being too slow to turn, it was a long night for the Axemen fielders against an Athletics team that put the ball in play all night. 

Joe Pasychnyk would make his first start for the Axemen since August 12 2015 when he would face the Stony Plain Mets to end the season. The right-hander would be all around the plate and hitting his spots well including a number of ground balls however with the struggles the Axemen faced in the field, time and time again a ground ball would turn into a single or an error leaving Pasychnyk with five runs surrendered over his four innings or work, all unearned. Matt Andreassen would make his Axemen debut on the mound pitching two innings and just like Pasychnyk, would receive limited assistance from the Axemen defence due to a pair of errors on ground balls and a couple of missed plays due to the slow and lush infield grass. The final Axemen debut for the evening was Zach Bailey who would make his first start in centre field and pitch a scoreless inning in the bottom of the sixth for the Axemen recording a pair of strikeouts.

But the Sherwood Park Athletics offence was too much on Thursday night for the Axemen to overcome as they received support from pretty much the entire lineup. From top to bottom the Athletics put balls into play and had timely hits to put up double digits against the Axemen. Third baseman Kent Morrison (3 for 4, R, 2 RBI), first baseman Brett McElroy (3 for 4, R, 2 RBI) and second baseman Cole Viger (3 for 4, 2 R, RBI) led the way for the Athletics offensively . If the Athletics can continue performing like they did on Thursday night over their remaining fifteen games, they should have a fantastic shot at another berth in the NCABL Playoffs come August. 

The real story of the night was the fine pitching that the Athletics got from Nelson, Reay and Cody McElroy. The three of them combined to no-hit the Axemen, striking out six and recorded a total of tweleve outs on balls in play that did not leave the infield. The only blemish on the night was a tough 1/3 of an inning by young lefty Darrin Reay as he struggled to find the zone walking two, tossing five wild pitches and hitting three Axemen batters bringing the total up to five Camrose hitters receiving free passes by being hit on the night. Riopel would lead the way for the Axemen by getting the jersey button crazed in the first inning before getting hit square in the shoulder blade in the fourth inning and finally finishing off the night with another pitch off the back in the sixth inning. The Axemen would end up scoring all four runs against Reay despite not collecting a hit with three of the four runs scoring on wild pitches. 

A positive spin for the Axemen is being no hit is hopefully rock bottom for the team this early in the season and they can only get better in all aspects of the game. They will get an opportunity to show their improvement on Tuesday May 23 when they travel to John Frye Park in Edmonton to take on the Primeaus, who are reported to have been busy this off season with some former Parkland White Sox signings. The Parkland White Sox were in the NCABL from 2008 to 2011 before entering the AAA Sunburst League until 2016 at which point they ceased operations. 

The Axemen and the Primeaus (formerly the Legal Indians then Edmonton Indians) have always played each other close and fans should expect another good match up between the two teams on Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 7:15pm.