Dawgs pick up Father’s Day Win

Dan Khavkin, Dawgs Baseball

Okotoks, AB- After suffering their first-ever loss to the Brooks Bombers in four seasons of league
play, the Okotoks Dawgs answered with an emphatic 14-3 win on Father’s Day Sunday in front of a
bouncing crowd Seaman Stadium at a full 5,287 capacity.
Head coach Mitch Schmidt notes the importance of having a strong showing on such a special day.
“Today’s win was very important. Playing in front of this crowd, on Father’s Day, in front so many fans
who took their special day to watch Dawgs Baseball is special," he says.
“For us to come out and get rolling the way we did after last night, adjusting accordingly as we talked
on the bus on our way back, showed how much of a great job the guys put together.”
The balance of the game swayed back and forth with both sides having a chance to plunge the other
early in the game, but it was the Dawgs who flooded the gates with 12 runs between the sixth and
seventh innings.
Crowder College pitcher Graham Brunner took the mound for his second start of the season.
Brunner pitched five innings, giving up two runs on three hits while striking out four.
Relief pitcher Shay Shanaman got credited with the win for his effort, fanning six batters in both two
innings of work during the most vital innings of the game.
Okotoks took the first lead an RBI single from Iowa-Western product Isaiah Peterson in the second
inning.
Brooks answered with a quick 2-1 lead after stringing together base-hits that forced Brunner out of the
game on his only two mistakes.
The Dawgs responded by notching the game 2-2 with a solo shot from Tristan Peters whose line-drive
lobbed the fence for his fifth home run of the season.
Momentum purely shifted in the favour of the Dawgs.
An offensive timeout proved to ignite the Dawgs’ offence as they totalled five runs in the sixth inning.
After Oregon State infielder Zak Taylor got on base and stole second following a meeting with his
coaches, Liam Rihela sparked the offence and helped suffocated the Bombers’ hope of stealing
another game from Okotoks.
Rihela singled an RBI base-hit before also stealing second, setting up Bellevue catcher Riley Baasch
to bat in the second run of the inning.
TheThompson Rivers second baseman and Chandler-Gilbert's Peters both had a team-leading three-

RBI game.
After a second out, the Dawgs held their composure and brought in three more batters to end the
inning.
Davis Todosichuk, Richard Mascarenas and Peters accounted for the clutch and relentless hitting that
made the score too far for the Bombers to reach at 7-2.
Okotoks followed up with a seven-run seventh inning that secured the Dawgs their 11th run of the
game with the 14-3 win.
The Dawgs have Monday off before they host Brooks again on Tuesday, June 17th at Seaman
Stadium with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m.