Bulls open the playoffs with a win over the Gulls
By Lethbridge Herald on August 17, 2021.
After ending the season on a six-game losing streak, the Lethbridge Bulls returned to the win column when they needed it the most.
Bulls starting pitcher Chris Messer went the distance on the hill as the Bulls kicked off the Western Canadian Baseball League post season with a 4-2 win over the Sylvan Lake Gulls in Game 1 of the teams’ best-of-three series Monday night in Sylvan Lake.
The Gulls had won seven games in a row to end the season, including no-hitting the Bulls in a 9-0 decision Sunday in Sylvan Lake.
Tied 1-1 in the seventh inning, the Bulls plated two runs on an overthrow to first base from shortstop and added another in the same inning for a three-run inning and a 4-1 lead.
The Gulls cut that lead in half in the bottom of the seventh inning to make it 4-2, but Messer managed to take it home from there, going the distance to record the win, allowing five hits, walking one and striking out seven.
The Bulls look for the sweep tonight as Game 2 takes the field at Spitz Stadium at 7:05 p.m.
If necessary, Game 3 will head back to Sylvan Lake Wednesday night at 7:05 p.m.
After three-and-a-half scoreless innings, the Gulls struck first when Jack Wheatley came on to pinch run for injured Matt Bondarchuk, scoring on a Cooper Jones single to centre field.
Lethbridge pulled even in the sixth when Ty Penner doubled to score Mike Fitzsimmons before the Bulls took the lead for good in the seventh.
With two on and two out, Dalton Demers and Kalem Haney scored on an error to shortstop off the bat of Josh Kabayama. Kabayama then scored on a Fitzsimmons single to left field.
Logan Grant singled to score Jones in the bottom of the seventh to round out the scoring as the Gulls outhit the Bulls 5-3.
Penner was 2-for-4 with an RBI for Lethbridge.
Jared Arnold took the loss for the Gulls, throwing three innings and giving up three runs on one hit, walking two and striking out three.
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