Nothing like the energy of 4,200 of your newest friends to welcome you to your new home.
Southpaw hurler Sam Wong made his home debut a memorable one tossing six innings to lift the Okotoks Dawgs to a 13-2 rout over first-time visitors in the Brooks Bombers in front of 4,277 fans at Seaman Stadium on Father’s Day.
“These are the best fans in baseball. This was a huge crowd today and everyone was really supportive and great,” said Wong, a Lewis and Clark State commit. “The guys have been really welcoming. I feel like I’ve been here for a month and feel really comfortable here.”
The Bombers came out swinging in their first foray to Seaman Stadium with aggressiveness at the plate and on the base paths yielding two runs on four hits in the first inning.
The six-foot-four starter would settle down from there, allowing just one more hit over six strong innings to pick up his second win in a week over the Bombers.
“Early I was throwing a lot of fastballs and they were hitting them,” Wong said. “We started going to the off-speed pretty early in the game and they were swinging at off-speed pitches that weren’t in the zone. “I had a lot of defence behind me. Brooks is a good hitting team so you’ve just got to get outs the way you can and my teammates helped me out a lot today.”
So did the guys at the plate.
Okotoks struck early and often to give the lefty more than enough run support.
Newly acquired Michael Gretler ignited a productive afternoon at the plate with a sharp line drive to score a pair in the bottom of the first. Daniel Fredrickson, Gretler and catcher Joel Brophy combined to drive in four more in the third before designated hitter Kellen Marruffo launched a two-run home-run over the right field fence to make it a six-run game.
Second-baseman Drake Kirkwood added to the onslaught in the seventh as the Dawgs Academy product launched a deep fly ball to the warning track in centre field to drive in a pair.
The Dawgs would add two more in the inning on a sac fly from shortstop Peter Hutzal and slap single from Gretler to produce his fourth RBI of the contest.
“We had a couple big flies, couple bleeders here and there. Good at bats,” said Gretler, an Oregon State University. “We got guys deep in pitch counts, we were drawing walks and whenever you get base runners a lot of good things can happen.”
Gretler earned a tremendous first-impression with the Dawgs faithful with a memorable debut in Okotoks’ dramatic 11-10 triumph over the Lethbridge Bulls on Friday.
The first-baseman crushed a three-run bomb in the bottom of the ninth inning to erase a three-run deficit leading to a walk-off RBI single from teammate Tyler Mildenberg.
“I was just looking to put a good swing on the ball and get the next guy to the plate to give us an opportunity to win the game,” Gretler said. “I was telling my parents that was one of the coolest things I’ve ever been a part of when it comes to baseball. It’s something I’ll never forget.”
The Dawgs dropped the middle of the weekend tilts in a 3-0 shutout to the West Division leading Medicine Hat Mavericks Saturday at Seaman Stadium.
Okotoks is five games back of the Hat entering the third week of June.
The Dawgs tackle the Bombers once again on June 22 at Seaman Stadium before hitting the road for six straight away from home starting on the 24th in Lethbridge.
For full schedule information go to dawgsbaseball.ca
For league standings go to wmbl.ca
