Bulls win three of five

By Dale Woodard on July 6, 2021.

Mike Fitzsimmons was familiar with the pitcher coming out of the bullpen.

That little tidbit of knowledge ultimately benefited the shortstop for the Lethbridge Bulls and helped the Bulls power their way to a 9-3 win over the Edmonton Prospects in Western Canadian Baseball League play Sunday afternoon at Spitz Stadium.

Stepping up to the plate with the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth inning and Prospects reliever Sasha Kamenjasevic coming on, Fitzsimmons uncorked a bases-clearing triple to right field to key a six-run inning en route to the win that not only improves the Bulls to 6-4 on the season, but gives them three wins in a five-game weekend tilt against Edmonton that started on Canada Day.

“It’s funny,” said Fitzsimmons. “Sasha came out of the bullpen and we played on the same high school baseball team. I knew I was getting the fastball early in the count and luckily I got that the first pitch. So I drove it the other way.”

The Fitzsimmons triple scored Dalton Demers, Nick Gravel and Liam Vulcano, snapped a 2-2 tie and handed the Bulls a 5-2 lead

He and Ty Penner scored on a single from Brad Goodwin before Noah Or scored on a groundout to shortstop to Torrin Vaselenak.

The Bulls added one more in the sixth after taking a 2-0 lead in the first inning.

Lethbridge starter Kyle Poapst worked six innings to earn the win, giving up two runs on four hits, walking two and striking out five.

“Kyle had a great start for us, attacked the hitters, went deep enough into the game and the bullpen took care of the rest,” said Bulls head coach Chance Wheatley. “The offence put up our usual (runs) and the pitchers stepped up. It was really good.”

Hitting leadoff, Fitzsimmons went 2-for-4, with one run and four RBI. He now has 13 RBI this season.

“Mike is as steady as they come at shortstop,” said Wheatley “He makes every play. He puts up good at-bats and he has some pop in there. So it’s been good.”

Goodwin batted 2-for-5 for the Bulls with one run and two RBI and Demers was 2-for-4 with one run scored.

For the Prospects, Jonny McGill was 2-for-4 with one run scored and one RBI and Stephen Horner hit 2-for-4 as Lethbridge outhit Edmonton 8-7.

Aden Richardson took the loss for the Prospects, throwing four innings and surrendering five runs on four hits while walking three and striking out one.

The Bulls look to build on their 6-4 start Thursday night when they host the Okotoks Dawgs Black at 7:05 p.m. at Spitz Stadium.

“You see we’re a really good team,” said Wheatley of his assessment of the weekend. “We’re in every game and our offence puts up runs every game. I was really happy all around this week and moving forward the pitchers are stepping up. It’s been good.”

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