Brian Ranta (photo: snowstreaker.com )
Another gem on the mound lifted the Swift Current Indians to a second straight victory Wednesday night.
Brian Ranta got the win after allowing six hits and striking out eight in seven innings of shut out ball as the Tribe downed the Saskatoon Yellow Jackets 3-1.
He felt great on the mound and credited their fielders for getting the job done again.
“We're starting to execute a little bit better,” said Ranta. “We struggled with that a little bit earlier, but we're getting that back, starting to play as a team getting to know each other better, things are definitely coming together now.”
Ranta's outing followed Garrett Anderson's seven innings of shut out ball on Tuesday.
“We have such a deep pitching staff,” Ranta said. “So many guys can throw well. Everybody on our staff is capable of that. When we've been struggling to hit in key situations pitching steps up and I know that our hitters are going to step up... they're starting to hit it really well.”
Despite only scoring three runs, every batter in the Indians line-up had at least one hit. They also stole four bases as a team and leaned on their “small ball” style to score runs.
“That was kind of what we got away from during our little bit of a losing streak there,” said veteran outfielder Brennan Peterson. “Now that we are playing small ball, grinding it out, running bases hard... you can tell that it's putting pressure on the other team for sure.”
Peterson went 2 for 4 with an RBI.
“We're all getting in a grove now,” he added. “We've all seen the pitches we need to see. I think it's just a matter of being aggressive and playing the game hard.”
New outfielder Cam Newell was again impressive. The Roseburg, Oregon product had a second consecutive three hit game, drove in a run, scored once and stole two bases.
Catcher Will Thorp also had a two hit game.
While they were swinging the bats better, the Indians still left twelve runners on base. Their coach is still confident the arrows are pointing in a positive direction.
“Just look at guy's at bats and their swings, just their train of thought and their approach at the plate seems to be a lot better,” said Indians Coach Joe Carnahan. “Sometimes it takes a little while just to get used to a new environment, new teammates and all that kind of stuff. It looks like it's coming around.”
The Tribe now take their show on the road to Regina tonight for a game against the Red Sox. They topped the defending WMBL Champions 1-0 on Tuesday in an effort their coach would like to see them repeat.
“If we can keep those two key components, strong defence and strong pitching, we're going to be in every game this year,” Carnahan said. “Offensively if we can execute like we did today and maybe get couple more big hits in some key situations we should have a good opportunity.”
Regina is also coming off a win as they beat Weyburn 5-1 on Wednesday night.
Click here for the boxscore from Wednesday night's Swift Current win
Interview with Joe Carnahan:
Interview with Brian Ranta:
Interview with Brennan Peterson:
WMBL SCORES
Regina 5 Weyburn 1
Medicine Hat 7 Moose Jaw 4
Melville 8 Edmonton 2
Lethbridge 7 Yorkton 4
Fri, Apr 26, 10:00 AM
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