57's offence explodes in third straight win

In their first two wins of the season the Swift Current 57's relied on their pitching, however, Sunday night was a different story.

The 57's hit their first three home-runs of the season en route to a 13-1 thrashing of the Melville Millionaires.

"You see the guys we have, we have power," said 57's First Baseman Ben Andrews. "We are going to find barrel, we're going to hit balls out of here and it was just a matter of time before it happened."

Andrews hit the first ever 57's home-run in the top of the 2nd, before Catcher Bodie Cooper went yard just one pitch later.

Left Fielder Blake Adams rounded out the fireworks for Swift Current in the bottom of the 5th when he ripped a grand slam.

"Like with anything, you get the first one out of the way and the rest seem to follow suit," 57's Head Coach Joe Carnahan said after watching his team tally 12 hits. "You can see the guys relaxing more and they are starting to show it on the field."

Meadow Lake's Brett Esau got Swift Current on the board in the bottom of the 1st with an RBI groundout, his 4th RBI of the season.

Then in the second, the offence completely took over, with the three-run home run from Andrews and the solo shot from Cooper to go up 5-0 after 2 innings complete.

"It makes is much easier," said 57's Starting Pitcher Matt Michalski after watching his team provide him plenty of run support. "You just have to go out, throw strikes and make them put the ball in play. The defence played good behind me. It just makes it a lot easier when you have that lead. You can make a mistake here or there, give up a hit and be able to pitch around it, or you can let up a run or two and it's not that big of a deal."

Making his 57's debut, Michalski stymied Melville's hitters over seven strong innings.

The Mansfield, Texas native only surrendered three hits during his start, while striking out nine.

"He was on fire," Andrews said regarding his starting pitcher. "What was it? 9 strike-outs? A bunch looking. He was low in the zone and commanding the baseball, it was awesome. He was really easy to play behind."

Michalski's start marked the third straight for Swift Current in which the starting pitcher did not surrender an earned run.

Combined with Bobby St. Pierre's start on Thursday, and James Smith's start on Saturday, Swift Current's starting pitchers have thrown 18 innings, giving up just two unearned runs on 9 hits and two walks, while striking out 20.

"They're doing well," Carnahan said when asked about his starters. "The biggest thing with them is they are working quick and commanding the zone. They are making teams put the ball in play and hit their way on. If that happens it is a little bit tougher to string along a bunch of hits to score runs. Once you start mixing in the walks and that type of thing, that is when teams can start to pile up the runs and we have been able to eliminate those so far."

In the 4th inning Riley Campbell hit an RBI single, and Adams hit a sacrifice fly to extend Swift Current's lead to 7-0.

Then in the 5th, the 57's made sure to put the game away.

Cole Thibideau hit a sacrifice fly, before Campbell hit his second RBI single of the night, setting the stage for Adams' grand slam which served as the exclamation point on the win.

"It's awesome," Michalski said getting to watch the offence do its thing. "When you get a grand slam, another home run and a lot of guys just putting in really good at-bats, even if they are not hits. We are working a lot of 3-2 counts, fouling a couple off and getting a walk, or a big hit. That is the brand of baseball you want to see and play, and that is going to lead to a lot of wins."

When Carnahan went to the bullpen to start the 8th inning, a local Swift Current native got the opportunity to make his 57's debut.

Devin Schultz entered the game in relief and managed to work around two walks to post a scoreless inning.

Swift Current will now hit the road for the first time in the 2017 season when they visit Yorkton Monday night.

The 57's (3-0) and Cardinals (0-3) are scheduled to get underway at 7:05pm from Jubilee Park.

"We have a lot of confidence and excitement heading into that first road game," Michalski said. "We'll just try to keep things rolling, keep the bats going, keep throwing strikes and keep winning games."