By Robb Fenton
It took five innings to break the deadlock, but the Lloydminster Expos did it in dramatic fashion.
The Expos scored three runs in the fifth inning, all with two out sparked by a solo homerun by Ryan Preston to left field.
From there, they added two more and clipped the Lloydminster Midget Twins 3-0, Tuesday night at Legion Ball Park.
“It was a close game, their pitcher threw a real good game and they played well defensively, we just managed to scrape out a couple of runs and managed to hold on to the win,” Expos second baseman Preston said.
Both teams threatened through the first four innings, but failed to push any runners across the plate as the defences stood tall.
Midget Twins head coach Jeff Latos agreed with Preston, saying the pitching and defence were on their game, but the bats went a little cold when they were needed.
“We had a good game. The boys played very well defensively, our pitching was good, we just weren’t on the bats at all. When our bats come around, we’re going to be much better,” he said. “It’s early in the year. We just have to get on the sticks.”
The only runs in the game came with two out in the fifth when Preston took a fastball to deep left field, which was then followed up by three straight hits to score two more runs and earn the win.
“It’s really nice. With a lot of new guys on the team, it was big to get those runs when we did,” Preston said.
After seeing the first two hitters of the innings quickly retired, Preston stepped into the box hoping to keep the inning going and didn’t waste any time giving his team the lead, hitting the second pitch over the fence.
“It felt good. It’s my first one in a few years, it’s always good to hit a homerun,” he said. “I knew he was going to try the first pitch strike and he missed, so I figured he would come back with the fastball on the second pitch and I was waiting for it and got a hold of it pretty good.”
Preston provided the only run that was needed while Nathan Mullet threw a complete game shutout after loading the bases, but getting out of the first inning unharmed.
“Nathan threw a good game overall. He got the jitters out in the first inning and after that threw a great game,” Preston said of his pitcher.
Latos feels his team isn’t in trouble despite the team’s two losses to begin the season and is confident they will improve as the season goes along.
“We’re just going to work at all parts of the game and focus on batting. We’ve got four games this week, this one (against the Expos), then three more, so we’ve got a heavy schedule and we’ll get a lot of opportunity to do some hitting,” Latos said.
Although it’s early in the season, Preston feels his team has a good shot at making some noise in the NSRBL and after a strong showing in their home opener, he’s excited about the potential of the team
“I think we’ll be well rounded. I think we’re looking fairly good right now. We’ll take it game by game,” Preston said.
The Expos next game goes tonight at home against the Lloyd Twins at 6:30 p.m. at Legion Ball Park, while the Midgets are in North Battleford tonight to battle the Beavers.