Knights finish strong at UCT tournament
Hat squad falls short of semis on tiebreaker, bounces back in consolation
The Medicine Hat K of C Knights had their hopes dashed by a three-way tiebreaker as hosts of the UCT A American Legion Baseball Tournament this weekend, but they bounced back to take a consolation victory with a wild 14-13 win over the Fort Macleod Royals.
After falling into a 5-0 hole to open Sunday’s consolation game at Jeffries Park, the Knights rallied back to take over the lead before bringing in the deciding run on a rundown then locking up the victory with a pickoff at third.
“Those were two really big plays that the guys executed perfectly,” said Knights head coach Lane Aman. “It was tough getting eliminated in that (tiebreaker) after a tough game, so this one feels pretty good — getting to end it in dramatic fashion especially.”
A rain delay forced Medicine Hat and Fort Macleod to settle their score through six innings. Leading 13-11 with Connor Drever on third, Knights first baseman Heydon Harrison was caught trying to steal second and managed to draw the attention of the defence long enough to send Drever home.
While closer Cole Rath quickly logged the first two outs, an infield error opened the door for Fort Macleod to cut the deficit back to one and put two runners into scoring position — but Rath caught Cole Dixon cheating off third to emphatically snuff out the comeback attempt and end the weekend on a high.
“The coach called it. He had a pretty big lead and Kayden (Berndt, third basemen) was ready for it,” said Rath, who took the save after holding the Royals to two unearned runs on a hit through the sixth. “It’s good to end on a high note, to know if we play our hardest and get on the sticks we can win.”
Aman added Rath did a good job of maintaining his cool on the mound and locking up the victory, especially when considering he’s coming off an injury.
“He’s been kind of easing his way back in with a hip injury and he got the save,” said Aman. “He looks good.”
Harrison went 2-for-2 with 2 RBI in the win, while Berndt and Brandon Hauck were both 2-for-3 with 2 RBI.
Wyatt Study locked up the win after taking the hill in relief of starter Drew Niwa to start the third and holding Fort Macleod to five runs on four hits through three frames.
The Knights followed up Friday’s 10-0 win over the St. Albert Cardinals with a 6-4 victory over the Calgary Blues and a 19-8 setback at the hands of the Moose Jaw Canucks to sit 2-1, but run differential left them on the wrong end of a three-way tiebreaker and forced them into consolation play.
The Calgary Redbirds went on to clinch the championship with a 9-0 victory over the Camrose Cougars.