The Beavers celebrate after punching their ticket to the NSRBL semi-finals Tuesday. (Martin Martinson/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Martin Martinson

Solidify Final Four

NB Beavers advance to semi-finals of NSRBL playoffs

Jul 20, 2022 | 12:07 PM

The North Battleford Beavers came out swinging Tuesday night in North Battleford to punch their ticket to the semi-finals of the North Sask River Baseball League playoffs.

The Beavers topped the Unity Junior Cardinals 12-2 in a dominant display in the third and deciding game of the teams’ quarterfinals best-of-three series.

A look inside the North Battleford Beavers, Unity Junior Cardinals first-round series. (Martin Martinson/battlefordsNOW Staff)

Veteran pitcher with the Beavers, Kelly Baillargeon, led the way for the team from the mound, and said it was a full team effort.

“We just hit the ball really well and put it in play the whole time and that was the difference,” Baillargeon said. “We have a solid team and as long as we hit like that we’re going to give other teams a lot of trouble too.”

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The Beavers’ victory also solidifies the semi-finals matchups for the final four, as the second-seeded Beavers will play the third-place Wilkie Brewers, while the top-seeded Macklin Lakers will face the fifth-place Standard Hill Lakers in an ‘all Lakers’ best-of-three series for a chance to advance to the league finals.

Andrew Hudec, who had a couple of big hits for the Beavers at key moments in Tuesday’s game, said the team’s ability to respond to adversity early in their first-round series should only help them moving forward.

“Game 1 Unity came out and they kind of surprised us a bit, but we came back and beat them in Game 2 and took that one in Unity, and then to get the win here on the home field in front of all the fans is just huge,” Hudec said.

“We’ll be playing Wilkie [in the semis], and they have a heck of a squad there, so it’s going to be a challenge, but we matched up against them well in the regular season and we’re just excited; we’ve got the team to do it.”

The semi-finals’ series will begin in the coming days, with the dates to be announced shortly. The full schedule as it becomes available can be found here.

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Martin.Martinson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @MartyMartyPxP1