Around The PBL: June 10 - June 14

The second half of the Powerline Baseball League starts this week with two distinct groups of teams. The Royals, Blue Jays, Athletics and Expos are fighting for spots 1 - 4 in the standings while the Axemen, Braves, Milleteers and Roadrunners are within a game of each other for the final Wild Card berth and within reach of the Expos in fourth.

The game of the week will without a doubt be the Armena Royals at Holden Blue Jays on Tuesday night. The two teams have had a great recent history on the field with last season's regular season, which saw the Jays end Armena's undefeated season, and playoff series which saw it come down to the last inning of the deciding game. This season tensions began to increase off the field between the two teams, mainly due to the league's vote on the Sherwood Park Athletics season. The Royals defeated the Jays 7-4 at Anniversary Park earlier this season meaning Holden will need to win by four or more runs to take the season series from the defending champs. Armena will be looking to extend their undefeated streak into the PBL History books. 

MONDAY JUNE 10

Rosalind Athletics

Edmonton Expos

Game postponed due to rain and field conditiions

TUESDAY JUNE 11

Camrose Axemen - 4

Tofield Braves - 6

After being no-hit in the first game of the home and home, the Braves bounced back to take a win from the Axemen with a big first inning that would pace Tofield to their fourth win of the season. Axemen pitcher Tanner Foss would get the start against the Braves and would hold them to only three hits on the night. One of those hits was a Rob Berrecloth three run home run in the bottom of the first inning, which would eventually turn out to be the difference maker for the Braves. Lead off walks to Rob Gillrie and Josh McDonald in the second and fourth innings would also come around to score giving the Braves some insurance. Axemen player manager Zach Willms would hit a big home run to lead off the third inning off of Dylan Solberg however the Braves right hander would end the game with twelve strikeouts and four hits allowed. While the defence was strong for both teams, the three combined errors proved to be extra harmful as the two errors from the Axemen would lead to five unearned runs and the lone error by the Braves led to three unearned runs. 

Armena Royals - 2

Holden Blue Jays - 6

A gem from Kyle Muzechka and a big night at the plate from first baseman Zak Lang has moved the Jays into a tie for first place with the Armena Royals on Tuesday night. The Jays ace would pitch a complete game win striking out twelve and allowing five hits. Lang would break the game open with a big hit in the fifth inning to break the 2-2 tie and the Jays would not look back. Should these two teams find themselves tied at the end of the season, the Jays will hold the tie break against the Royals 1-1 (+1) after winning by four runs on Tuesday night. Both teams are now sitting at 7-1-1 on the season.

Camrose Roadrunners - 4

Leduc Milleteers - 3

The frustrating 2019 season for the Milleteers continued on Tuesday night with a loss to the Camrose Roadrunners. While details were not available from the game, the Milleteers expressed their frustration on Twitter after the game about their play, spefically not putting enough quality at bats together and making too many errors in the field. Both the Roadrunners and Braves are now at 4-5, only half a game back of the fourth place Expos. 

WEDNESDAY JUNE 12

Edmonton Expos – 4

Camrose Axemen – 1

The Expos are starting to pull away from the Wild Card pack as they look to secure 4th place in the final couple of weeks of the season. There were no details available from the game.

THURSDAY JUNE 13

Unfortunately no details about the games tonight were provided.

Armena Royals – 16

Camrose Roadrunners – 0

Tofield Braves – 3

Rosalind Athletics – 10

FRIDAY JUNE 14

Leduc Milleteers – 4

Camrose Axemen – 6

There were no details available from the game.