Giants edge Sultans to take Game 1 of MJBL final

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This article was published 24/07/2024 (455 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Welcome to championship series baseball, where pictures are left off the box score and a little ugly is needed to pull out victories.

The Elmwood Giants are no strangers to what it takes this time of year and played like a seasoned squad as they overcame several uncharacteristic moments to grind out a huge 6-5 win over the Carillon Sultans in Game 1 of the best-of-five Manitoba Junior Baseball League championship series at A.D. Penner Park in Steinbach.

“Big win,” said Giants manager Ed Kulyk. “We made four crucial errors that gave them three runs, all unearned, which wasn’t our type of defence, but we battled back. Colson Smith pitched a gem, and we had some timely hits today.

“We’ll take the win, but it’s a long series. They can swing it and it’s gonna be one heck of a dogfight.”

Smith tossed 5.2 strong innings, striking out six batters while conceding seven hits and two walks. Third baseman Riley Craw sparkled in 1.1 innings in relief, striking out one batter while preventing any runners from reaching base.

The Giants registered 10 hits in the contests, the biggest of which came off the bat of first baseman Nixon Carriere, whose single to left field in the sixth inning scored two runs and was ultimately the difference.

“I came up just looking for a single — put the ball in play — and I was just battling up there, fouling stuff off, and I saw a pitch he kind of left in there a little bit and I just put my bat out there and let it drop and let my boys run,” said Carriere, who went two-for-four with two RBI and crossed home plate once.

The Sultans also struggled in the field on this night. The Carillon defence racked up four errors behind starting pitcher Linden Meilleur, who was charged with one earned run while striking out eight batters in 5.1 innings work.

However, the Giants batters deserve credit for their effort on offence, which came in bunches. After the Sultans took a one-run lead in the first inning, Elmwood exploded for four scores in the second frame.

Carillon scored another run in the third and re-took the lead with a three-run fourth inning before the Giants scored a pair in the sixth.

“I think it’s just confidence,” Carriere said of what worked well for the club on this night. “When we go up with confidence, we’re all good enough hitters and we can get the job done, so I think we just got to go out there with confidence, believe in ourselves and swing the bat.”

After ending the regular season as the league’s top team with a 24-6 record, the Sultans have now dropped just two games in the playoffs.

Meanwhile, the Giants finished a close second at 23-8 and have been pushed a bit harder in their path to the championship series, escaping the Interlake Blue Jays with a 3-2 series victory in the semifinals.

The two clubs squared off three times during the regular season, with Carillon taking two meetings.

“Offensively, they’re strong one through nine; they’ve got the best catcher in the junior league; they’re solid top to bottom,” Kulyk said. “They are the most complete team in our league this year and it showed.”

The Giants have designs on avenging last year’s heartbreaking finals loss to the St. Boniface Legionnaires, who snapped a 13-year title drought in the process.

A win this time around would be the club’s sixth championship in the last seven years.

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“We definitely remember last year,” said Carriere. “We just want to change the page, and we know we’re a good team and we can take them this year, so we’re just using that as fuel to get it done this year.

“It’s going to take everyone on this team. We just need everyone going, everyone doing their job. I think if everyone does their job we will get this done.”

Game 2 goes Thursday night at Koskie Field in Winnipeg (7 p.m.).

joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca

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Joshua Frey-Sam
Reporter

Josh Frey-Sam reports on sports and business at the Free Press. Josh got his start at the paper in 2022, just weeks after graduating from the Creative Communications program at Red River College. He reports primarily on amateur teams and athletes in sports. Read more about Josh.

Every piece of reporting Josh produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.