Brunner shines with one hit performance in Dawgs rout

Dan Khavkin, Dawgs Baseball

Okotoks, AB – It almost a flawless scoreboard for the Okotoks Dawgs but their dominating
performance from the pitcher’s mound and batters’ box, propelled the Western Division leaders to a 8-
1 win of the Lethbridge Bulls Sunday afternoon.

Crowder College product and Dawgs Academy alumni Graham Brunner started in his third game of the
season which proved to be his best so far.

“I tried to cut down on the walks and inaccurate pitches. The defence helped me get out of jams early
on which helped a lot,” Brunner says.

The Dawgs defence played splendid, with almost every infielder (in particular third baseman Bret Esau,
short-stop Richard Mascarenas and first baseman Jaxon Valcke) flashing their gloves all game long.

“My fastballs hit the spots really today compared to other starts. I tried to be perfect and make them hit
the ball and help the defence earn the cheap outs.”

Brunner absolutely dominated the Bulls (11-10), starting the game with a no-hitter going into the fourth
inning before it was broken. The Okotoks native pitched five innings allowing only one hit while fanning
eight batters on route to the win.

After the Dawgs (16-5) got on the board off an RBI-single from Chandler-Gilbert College outfielder
Tristan Peters in the fourth, the momentum continued carrying into next offensive outing.

A five-run fifth inning opened the flood gates, once again, with relentless hitting for the Dawgs.
Thompson Rivers second baseman Liam Rihela continued playing a strong game with his fourth RBI in
five starts after batting in the first of five batters with a long RBI-double.

UBC infielder Valcke drove Rihela in on a single before Bellevue University product Kory Longaker,
Okanagan College outfielder Davis Todosichuk and finally Peters, all contributed with one RBI each in
the inning.

In the sixth, Longaker brought two more runs in on a sac-fly that saw a wild throw to home-plate allow
for a second Dawgs run in the inning.

Lethbridge broke the shutout bid with two outs in the top of the ninth on their fifth hit of the game.

The Dawgs have a rest day on Monday before hosting the Fort McMurray Giants Tuesday evening at
7:05 p.m.