Bulls blanked by Bombers
This time, there were no swapped leads or dramatic comebacks as the Lethbridge Bulls were blanked 9-0 by the Brooks Bombers in Western Major Baseball League play Wednesday night at Spitz Stadium.
After a wild 13-12 Bulls win Tuesday in which Lethbridge saw their 9-2 lead evaporate in the eighth inning and trail 12-9 in the ninth before rallying for four runs in the bottom of the ninth for the win, there were no storybook endings Wednesday.
Instead, the Bombers got the lead and wasted no time building on it, taking a 20 lead in the third inning before adding five more in fourth inning and one in the sixth and seventh to hand the Bulls a loss that drops them to 15-23.
The Bulls were held to one hit in the loss as Bombers starter Jonny Chavez went the distance for Brooks.
Lethbridge tried to get on the board first in the bottom of the second when Carter Witbeck laced a double to the left field corner. Brett Semeniuk was waved in trying to score from first, but was thrown out at the plate to keep the game scoreless after two.
Instead, it was the Bombers that struck first as Liam Shibata sent a two-out, bases-loaded single to right field to score Jakob Shields and Conner Morro for a 20 lead in the top of the third.
Brooks added to their lead in the fourth when Brit Logan doubled to centre field to score Andrew Leggo from first for a 3-0 lead and went up 4-0 one batter later when Lino Figueroa reached on an error to third and Logan scampered in to beat the tag at home.
The Bombers kept the fourth-inning rally going when Bryce O’Farrell advanced to first on dropped third strike and Figueroa scored from third for a 5-0 lead. Shibata then doubled to score Shields and O’Farrell to make it 7-0.
Brooks added to their lead in the top of the sixth when Luis Sterling sent a shot into centre field that scored Zach Leman for an 8-0 lead.
The Bombers loaded the bases with none out in the seventh inning and rounded out the scoring as Morro singled to score Logan.
Bulls starter Kale Penner took the loss for Lethbridge, throwing five innings and allowing seven runs on nine hits, walking one and striking out eight.
Witbeck had the sole Bulls hit with his double.
The Bulls continue their homestand this weekend as they host the Fort McMurray Giants Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. at Spitz Stadium and 2 p.m. on Sunday.
As of Wednesday night, the Giants are one-and-a-half games back of the Bulls for fourth place and the final playoff spot in the Western Division.
The Giants were up 4-3 on the Regina Red Sox in the seventh inning as of press time Wednesday night.