Smith a Giant on the mound

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This article was published 28/07/2022 (1192 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An extra day of rest seemed like it could benefit both teams. But it was all Tyler Smith needed when taking the mound for what would be one of his best outings of the season for the Elmwood Giants.

Smith, in his third year with the Giants, toed the rubber in Game 1 of the Manitoba Junior Baseball League finals, pitching a gem en route to a 6-2 win over the St. James A’s at Optimist Park on Thursday evening.

The 20-year-old went five innings, tossing 75 pitches and striking out 12 batters while allowing just one earned run.

What helped Smith and the four-time defending champion Giants was watching the challenging A’s shoot themselves in the foot early and often in the seven-inning series opener.

“It actually helps me as a pitcher. Seeing them get down on themselves gives me more confidence about myself and just helps the whole game. Also everyone on the team,” Smith said after the game.

The A’s committed three passed balls, a wild pitch and a balk in the first two innings alone, which allowed the Giants to jump out to a 4-0 lead heading into the bottom of the second.

Smith’s lone blemish on the scorecard came in that frame, when his 2-2 fastball was punched over the fence, drawing the A’s within three runs.

“You gotta shut that out of your mind and just keep doing what you’re doing, doing what you’re made to do,” Smith said.

The 2021 MJBL player of the year did just that, striking out four of the next five batters to settle back into the game.

The Giants and A’s split the regular-season series two games apiece, with the reigning champions finishing as the top seed entering the playoffs.

As a result, Game 1 of the MJBL finals was supposed to be played at the Giants’ Koskie Field on Wednesday, but excessive rain rendered the field unplayable, moving the series opener to Optimist Park, home of the A’s.

The away start didn’t bother Head Coach Ed Kulyk and his team, as they ran up the score quickly then went on cruise control for the remainder of the game.

“Boys came out fired up, ready to go,” Kulyk. “We knew we were going to be in a dog fight against St. James… as you saw, Tyler Smith pitched a gem, probably his best game of the year, and we made a couple of timely hits and played good defence.”

The long-time coach said the key to the Giants’ success this season has been rock solid pitching, backed by stellar defence and quality at-bats.

They’ve proven to be a team you can’t give free runs to like the A’s did in Game 1. The series of mistakes was fuel for the Giants’ already raging fire.

“You’re fired up,” Kulyk said about his team’s mindset with an early lead. “The old saying ‘when they’re down, you gotta kick em’. We just can’t let up and we’re really good at that this year. We don’t let up on teams, we try to run them out of the ballpark if we can.”

Kulyk said the Giants didn’t have their best offensive outing Thursday, teasing that “there’s more to come,” as his team looks for an MJBL record fifth-straight championship.

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Smith won’t pitch until Sunday, if that game is needed, but has noticed a change in his team’s apparoch to games this season over past years.

“I noticed this year we’re a lot more in to the game, a lot more focused. And If we get five, that’s breaking history, so it’d be really cool to be a part of this,” he said.

The MJBL final will continue with Game 2 at Koskie Field tonight at 7 p.m.

jfreysam@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jfreysam

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.