By Nathan Kanter

Beavers still looking for first win after weekend homestand

May 21, 2017 | 5:00 PM

The North Battleford midget AA Beavers went winless in their first homestand of the Saskatchewan Premier Baseball League (SPBL) season, falling twice to the Regina White Sox on Saturday and then twice to the Weyburn Beavers Sunday.

North Battleford is now 0-12 this season.

“We’ve got a really young team here. Lots of first years,” said Beavers assistant coach Brett Benoit after Sunday’s 13-3 loss to Weyburn in the second half of the double-header. 

“It’s a big jump from bantam ball to the midget SPBL. Kids are throwing harder and none of these guys have really hit curve balls before. That makes a big difference, especially when you’ve got veteran pitchers out there. It’s hard for the guys to get adjusted and get used to midget pitching.”

Benoit said he’s found the Beavers are leaving lots of men on base.

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“We seem to be able to get guys on base with the top of our lineup and we just can’t seem to cash them in and bring them across the plate,” he said. “That’s kind of what’s summing up our year right now.

“There’s going to be a lot of batting practice in our future here.”

Benoit said with such a young team it will take time to become competitive. But every game is a learning experience, and Sunday’s games were better than Saturday’s losses to Regina.

“It’s a two-year process I guess you could say,” Benoit said. “Early in the year with a young group of guys, we’ve got a lot of potential…[and] today, the guys were a little more alert and aware of where to go with the ball.

“There’s always room for improvement. We’re going to be back on the diamond [practicing] Tuesday and Thursday of this week I think and there’s always going to be stuff that you can work on. Just stay positive. We’re going to grind out a win here sometime.”

The focus will be on hitting moving forward, as the Beavers need to find a way to stop stranding so many runners if they want to get into the win column.

Next weekend they will be at home once again for four games.

Saturday they have a double-header with the Regina Blue Jays and Sunday they have a double-header with the Moose Jaw Canucks, who are already 3-0 against North Battleford this season.

“Hitting is one of the bigger things we are going to be working on,” Benoit added. “We made a lot of good plays out in the field [today]. Lots of positives from this weekend. So we’re going to build off that.”

Saturday’s games will be at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. while Sunday’s games will be at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca

@NathanKanter11