The North Battleford Beavers celebrate after Wednesday's win to advance to the semi-finals of the NSRBL playoffs. (Martin Martinson/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Martin Martinson

Final Four Set

Beavers advance to NSRBL semis with clutch Game 3 win

Jul 20, 2023 | 12:23 PM

The North Battleford Beavers are on to the semi-finals of the North Sask River Baseball League (NSRBL) playoffs Wednesday night, with a dramatic 1-0 victory over the Glaslyn Orioles at Beaver Lions Stadium.

The win came in Game 3 of the teams’ quarter-finals best-of-three series, keeping fans in attendance on the edge of their seats until the final out of the night.

A pitchers’ dual for much of the contest, Kyle Palmer threw six innings of shutout baseball for the Beavers, before ace Jared Schmidt closed the game out in the final inning.

Orioles’ pitchers Andrew Hicks (four innings) and Trayton Troesch (two innings) also kept their team in the game right to the end, allowing just a single run between them on the night.

The Beavers’ lone run also came courtesy of Palmer, who hit a single to get on base, then stole a pair of bases to get to third where he was able to score on a deep shot to the fence by Beavers’ veteran and team manager, Kyle Gregoire.

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“I got a single to start and knew I just had to get in scoring position, so I did and luckily Kyle hit a deep enough fly ball to get me in, so it was good execution,” Palmer said of the play postgame. “It’s just nice to get the win and move on to the next series.”

Kyle Palmer connects at the plate during Wednesday’s Game 3 at Beaver Lions Stadium. (Martin Martinson/battlefordsNOW Staff)

With the win, the third-seed Beavers advance to the semi-finals of the NSRBL playoffs, where they will play the second-seeded Meadow Lake Sox in another best-of-three, this time for a spot in the league finals.

Meadow Lake is coming off a 2-0 sweep of the Mervin Flyers in their quarterfinals series, and finished just a half-game up on the Beavers at the end of the regular season, making for what Palmer said should be a great series.

“We split [the regular season series] this year, so it’s good to get this, move on and hopefully have a good series against Meadow to move on to the final,” he said. “I think as long as we play sound defensively and that keeps us in the game, we can hit with anybody and pitch with anybody, so the biggest thing is our defence, and if we lock in defensively good things will happen.”

In the other semi-finals series, the top-seeded Standard Hill Lakers, who are coming off a bye in the opening round, will face the fourth-seeded Unity Cardinals. Unity defeated the number-five Lloyd Twins in their quarterfinals series in two straight.

Game 1 between Standard Hill and Unity will be played Thursday night, with the first pitch at Silver Lake at 6:30 p.m. The schedule for the semi-finals series between North Battleford and Meadow Lake is expected to be announced shortly.

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Martin.Martinson@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @MartyMartyPxP1