The Bandits’ bats went to work over the weekend at a pair of games in Whitefish, however, the team split their record with a win and a loss.
The team started off with an emphatic 13-2 win over the Glaciers on Saturday, however, the Cranbrook-based squad had some troubles in the following rematch and fell 4-1.
Bandits head coach Paul Mrazek said his team played well in their first game, and tried to end it via mercy rules, however, the Glaciers managed to get back into it.
“We had an opportunity to mercy them and I wanted to end the game, but we let them back in and I didn’t want the momentum to start going there way.”
Taylor Blackburn had pitched most of the game, but Mrazek switched him out for Marra at the end of the fifth inning.
“We brought Marra in to close things because he shut Eureka down the week before real hard,” Mrazek said.
“[He] came in and was throwing gas, probably hitting 85, 86, so the first three guys couldn’t touch him.”
Despite the win, the Bandits came out flat in the rematch and lost 4-1.
“We had six hits, they had one, we made some errors, we lost 4-1,” said Mrazek. “Never should’ve happened. We had six hits, they had one and we lose 4-1? We needed to tighten it up a bit in the field, they were a little flat, and some kids were playing positions they weren’t used to.”
That puts their record at 7-9 this season, and Mrazek was hoping for a win in their second game to pull them up to a 0.500 record.
“We were 7-8 going into that game, so we’ve been playing well, that would’ve brought us to 0.500,” said Mrazek. “So a little disappointed, but you know what? The Bandits haven’t been 6-8 for a long time.”
After Saturday’s action, the team returned home to Cranbrook and faced off against the senior men’s team for a pair of tuneup matches.
The men won both games at a score of 6-2 and 5-2.
Mrazek said the first game was reachable, however, the men’s team seemed to be dialled into the pitchers.
“[It was] 3-2 for a while in the first game. We went over this with our pitchers, setting up the hitters, and where we’re going to miss, if we miss. Whenever they hit us hard today, it’s because we missed in the wrong spot,” said Mrazek.
“I want a breaking ball in the outside corner, and they pop a breaking ball in the middle of the plate, and they jump on it.”
It will be a shorter week of practice for the Bandits, as they will return to Whitefish next weekend to participate in a tournament that will include teams from as far away as Edmonton.