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Edmonton dims Dawgs' prospects

It was not a great day for two for the regular-season WMBL champion Okotoks Dawgs. The Dawgs saw their prospects for a fourth league title dim as they were swept at home in the opening two games of the best-of-five West Division final.

It was not a great day for two for the regular-season WMBL champion Okotoks Dawgs.

The Dawgs saw their prospects for a fourth league title dim as they were swept at home in the opening two games of the best-of-five West Division final.

The Edmonton Prospects downed them 7-2 in a game that was split between Sunday and Monday due to hail. They then lost Monday’s nightcap 5-2.

The Dawgs, who out scored Edmonton 55-23 in winning seven of eight in the regular season, did not have the lead in either game and managed just eight hits over the two games.

“I thought we lost our aggressiveness at the plate today,” Dawgs head coach Tyler Graham said. “All our pitchers did well, we usually are able to battle back, but we just didn’t have good at bats these two games.”

The Dawgs finished first in the division with a 33-14 record, while the Prospects were a distant fourth at 22-25, some 11 games back.

The Dawgs didn’t have the bite on Monday night.

With Edmonton leading 3-2 in the nightcap, there were Dawgs planted at second and third with one out in the sixth but two of their top hitters, Brendan Rose and Elliott Cary, couldn’t cash in a run to tie the game.

Cary had hit a solo bomb over the scoreboard earlier in the game to close the gap to 3-2.

“I swung at the first pitch and got a good one to hit and it jumped a little bit,” Cary sad. “We had our chances tonight and we didn’t take advantage of them.

“Tomorrow we will.”

The Prospects would extend their lead in the seventh on a homer by Colin Kreiter.

Kreiter, who had no home runs in the regular season, had a pair in the opening two games of the series. He would also drive in a run in the eighth to make the final 5-2.

Dawgs starter CJ Lewington, took the loss — his first of the season, after going 6-0 in the regular season. Two of the three runs he gave up over five innings were earned.

The Prospects’ all-star pitcher Noah Gapp should get paid overtime in Edmonton’s 7-2 victory Sunday and Monday.

Gapp allowed only one hit over the first three innings before Mother Earth blasted the Foothills with what seems like the 158th hailstorm of the season.

Play resumed the next day, and despite throwing about 40 pitches the night before he was back on the bump when play resumed and Edmonton up 3-0.

“I’ve never done that before,” Gapp said. “The coach had told me, ‘we will see how your arm feels’, but I was planning to go.”

“I just tried to keep the same mindset that I had on Sunday.”

The Dawgs weren’t able to fill the Gapp despite having a night to sleep on his pitching.

Okotoks cut the lead to 3-2 in the sixth inning. However, the Prospects bounced right back with four runs. The big blow coming from Kreiter who hit a three-run bomb over the right-field wall off of Garrett Ciuk to make it 7-2.

“It was a change-up and I got around on it and put the barrel on the ball,” he said. “I knew I hit it hard enough, I was just hoping it would stay fair.”

Gapp, who gave up just four hits and had a dozen strikeouts, said he doubts if he will be able to pitch again in this series. He’s hoping to pitch Game 1 of the West Division final.

The Dawgs now have to win two at the Edmonton Ballpark and then come home and win at Seaman Stadium on Thursday to take the series.

“We’re still positive, we know it wasn’t a fluke winning the best record in the Wimble,” Cary said.

“We have a positive mindset. We’re going to go up and take two in Edmonton.

“But credit Edmonton, they threw some good arms against us and took two here.”

Graham said the Dawgs have to keep their heads up.

“I said coming in regardless of who we play we have to play good baseball,” Graham said. “We have to play loose, play hard and see what happens.

“We’ve had a couple of bad losses before and bounced back, we will see what this team is made of tomorrow.”

The Dawgs’ Liam Stroud (2-2) is scheduled to start in Edmonton Aug. 2.

To see results go to dawgsbaseball.ca

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