What’s good for the Okotoks Dawgs is bad news for the rest of the Western Major Baseball League.
Okotoks’ starting pitching is starting to catch up to its prodigious offence as 17-year-old southpaw Graham Brunner and veteran hurler Chris Horvath poured in consecutive quality starts to give the Dawgs two wins in a row and move into first place in the Western Division.
“When you have a high schooler who comes out and dices like he does we got leadership from a guy who really wasn’t recruited for our team,” said Dawgs coach Dave Robb. “That’s the thing, if he can do it then just go out there and attack the zone, Chris Horvath went out and did that.
“That was huge. Putting zeroes up, giving us a chance to get one, two and then adding on.”
Horvath was in command in front of over 5,000 fans at Seaman Stadium on Father’s Day.
The Wayne State product tossed seven innings without an earned run as Okotoks edged the Brooks Bombers by a 4-1 count.
Small ball paved the way for the victory as Okotoks stole six bases and squeezed everything out of just two extra base hits in the contest.
Aderly Perez’s wheels opened the scoring as the third-baseman stole second and third and later scored on a balk in the second inning.
Shortstop Peter Hutzal added a sacrifice fly in the fifth and drove in two more off a sharp line-drive in the sixth to complete the scoring.
“The small ball was a result of the close game,” Robb said.
Brooks got one on the board on an infield error in the top of the seventh.
Brennen Lauffenburger and Tyler Burdett pitched two perfect innings, the latter picking up his fifth save of the campaign already.
The Dawgs snapped a mini two-game skid on Saturday on the backs of a call-up’s continued excellence.
Brunner, a Dawgs Academy pitcher, tossed six innings allowing one earned run to pick up his first win with the college team, an 8-1 victory over the Edmonton Prospects.
“I was locating the fastball pretty well and then slider, curveball were getting guys out,” Brunner said. “I’m just trying to have fun with it and learn as much as I can from the guys.
“Hopefully I can stay with this team as long as I can.”
It’s the second quality start in as many appearances for the Dawgs after a stellar turn in Fort McMurray the weekend prior.
“You’re more nervous if you start your first one here,” he said. “It helped starting on the road.”
Okotoks got on the sticks against Edmonton’s best starter Noah Gapp.
John Hawk opened the floodgates with a three-run home run, the first Dawg big blast at home this season, while Eddie Sanchez, Matt Lloyd and Kody Funderburk added ribbies in a seven-run second inning.
The Dawgs lost their first home game of the season on Friday by 14-7 count to the Medicine Hat Mavericks. The Mavs also took the front-end of the home-and-home set 18-7.
Starting pitching, a source of inconsistency for the Dawgs, should only improve with key reinforcements on the way.
Stud reliever Anthony Balderas, southpaw Taylor Davis, starters Ethan Fox and Jack Rupe, out of the UCSD Tritons, are all expected to see action on the bump this week for the squad.
“I’m liking it more now that we’re getting some zeroes on mound,” Robb said. “If we start to solidify that starting rotation and get to the fifth inning we’ve got four or five guys in the back end there.”
Okotoks (9-4) takes on the Eastern Division for the first time when the Moose Jaw Miller Express hit Seaman Stadium for a two-game set on June 22, 23. Both games are 7:05 p.m. starts.
The Dawgs travel to Lethbridge on June 24 before wrapping up a busy week with a double-header on June 25 with the Bulls paying a visit on June 25. Game 1 is a 2:05 start, the night cap is 7:05 p.m.
For more information go to dawgsbaseball.ca
