By Robb Fenton
The Lloydminster Juniors continue to impress and find ways to win ball games.
The Juniors extended their winning streak to 11 games this past week after beating the North Battleford Beavers 10-2 and hammering the Unity Cardinals 10-0.
As the schedule winds down, the Juniors are in a good position, currently sitting near the top of the standings.
“This week is going to be the real test. We play a couple good teams in a row and we’re really excited about it and we’ll see how it pans out,” Juniors coach Curtis Lystang said.
The Juniors took on the Beavers Monday night, the Cardinals last night and travel to Wilkie tonight for likely their toughest stretch of games this season.
The goal is to finish in the top half of the league, earning themselves a playoff spot and homefield advantage for most of the post-season.
“We’d like to be top four to get that homefield advantage,” Lystang said.
The Juniors flexed their muscles Monday night, putting up 10 runs and showing they can score runs when they want.
They scored runs in four of their six at-bats, including a four-run fifth which broke the game open.
“The bats were alive again. We had a solid performance from (pitcher) Steve (Latos). He struggled a bit at times, but when the bats are there it’s pretty easy to win a ball game,” Lystang said of Monday night’s performance.
One of the biggest reasons for the Juniors success this season has been their ability to support each other.
Monday’s starter, Latos knew the pressure was off early in the game as the Juniors scored three runs in the first two innings, giving him a cushion to work with.
“A couple games ago we struggled to get some run support, but to help him he doesn’t have to go out there feeling tense. He can just go out and throw the ball,” Lystang said. “He can give up a run, a hit here and there and there’s not much pressure.”
“We have a good team, especially behind Steve, he’s probably one of the best pitchers in the league. It’s really easy going out behind him,” Juniors outfielder Landon Noyes added. “You don’t have to hit the ball all over the place or score 10 runs every game. All we have to do is play solid defence, get a couple key hits and we’ll win the games.”
Noyes feels his team is doing all the little things to be successful not only to finish the season, but also in the playoffs.
“The biggest thing is as long as we keep our pitching and keep the errors down, we’ll do fine. Our hitting is good enough for what we need,” he said. “The game against Meadow Lake  shows we can stick in a game and keep that one run lead if we need to, or we can get the hits like Monday and just go along with it.”
Lystang agreed, noting how key it is to win games in different ways and be able to play any style of baseball.
“It shows versatility. We have a good group of guys who go out there and play ball hard. They win however they can and it’s a good attitude to have,” Lystang said.
Taking on the Beavers, Cardinals and Brewers in three out of their final four games will be a good test heading into the playoffs and prepare the team for hopefully a long run.
“It’s nice having games against better teams because you get to see better pitching and you know you have to win those games if you want to stay at the top of the league,” Noyes said. “The teams we played and Wilkie (tonight) are near the top, so we just have to play our game and hope it all goes well.”
The Juniors head to Wilkie tonight to face the Brewers.