An Okotoks Dawg has plenty of national pride — and he shares it with a pair of countries.
Slugger JT Patterson hit a seventh-inning solo shot to give the Dawgs a 3-2 lead en route to a 6-2 victory over the Brooks Bombers in front of 5,207 fans at Seaman Stadium.
“This was my first one as a Dawg player and I knew it was gone right away,” Patterson said. “It was a great feeling, really overwhelming.”
Patterson proved to be a bit of Yankee Doodle Dandy as well.
He blasted another solo home run in the Dawgs’ 10-8 victory over the Melville Millionaires on July 4 — Independence Day down south in the country where he plays college ball.
Patterson is a Junior Dawg Academy graduate.
Although the Canada Day blast was his first with the Big Dawgs, he has shown some pop at Northeastern College in Colorado.
The Holy Trinity Academy grad hit 12 home runs in the rarefied air of Sterling, Colorado in the spring.
“Right now, I’m seeing all new pitchers — I’m trying to get a feel for what everybody in the league (the Western Major Baseball League) has got,” Patterson said.
“Once playoffs come around, I’m pretty confident, our whole team will be able to roll.”
A couple of Dawgs are definitely on a roll with a pair of nine-game hitting streaks.
Brendan Rose kept his streak alive with a two-out-double with the bags full of Dawgs to cash in three runs in the win over Melville on Monday.
Meanwhile, the soft-spoken Kellen Marruffo kept his streak going in a big way. The Arizona resident who attends the University of Utah kept the Okotoks faithful warm on a chilly Monday night by going two-for-two with a double and a single. He also walked twice, was hit by a pitch and scored two runs in his five plate appearance.
He credits his streak to the Dawgs coaches.
“There are a lot of us who are just soaking up the knowledge here,” Marruffo said on July 4. “With the Dawgs I am going back to what God has given me — I’m a big guy. The coaches have given me the chance to unlock it.”
Manager Tyler Graham and the rest of his staff should throw away the key.
Marruffo was selected the WMBL’s hitter of the week. He hit .333 and scored seven runs from June 20-26 in which the Dawgs went 5-1 and moved into second place in the Western Division.
“I think right now it’s about having fun,” Marruffo said. “Everybody knows what to do to get better and it shows up in the field.”
Former Okotoks J Dawg Nick Vickers picked up the win in relief of the steady Garrett Ciuk against Melville. Vickers pitched four innings, allowing two hits and one earned run.
“Garrett has been one of the best starters number wise in the league and he had an off night tonight,” Graham said. “It was great for our offence to pick him up. Vickers was big for us. We rode him as long as we could.”
Christian Parsons came in to shut the Millionaires down in the ninth.
Graham said the win over Melville was big as it put a halt to losing back-to-back games to the Regina Red Sox on Saturday and Sunday in Okotoks.
“It’s big to get back on the right track,” Graham said. “Our bats came alive early in the game because we had games we didn’t get much going. It’s great to get the offence going well.”
Monday’s victory gave the Dawgs seven wins in the last 10 games.
They finished off their two-game set against the Millionaires July 5 but results were too late for the Wheel’s publication deadline.
The Dawgs had an 18-10 record as of Tuesday which put them in second place, two games back of the Medicine Hat Mavericks in the Western Division.
The Dawgs had to Moose Jaw for a pair and then the Hat before returning to Seaman Stadium on July 12 to play the Lethbridge Bulls. First pitch is at 7 p.m. For more information go dawgsbaseball.ca
