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Dan Enright got the start for the A’s on the second of back to back games against the Braves. Coming off a rain shortened 3 inning outing against the Expo’s, Dan was going firing screamers right off the hop. With a strong defense in from of him, Dan gave up only 3 hits and one run over 7 strong. Catching for Dan was 16 year old Blake Sitler, his first time catching a men’s game.  The Athletics have been fortunate to get key contributions from more than a handful of young new roster players and this game was no exception.

After stringing together 16 hits against these Braves last Thursday, the Athletics followed up with another 9 on this night, several of the hard hitting variety. Dan reached on an error to start the game off and after stealing 2nd and advancing to 3rd on a wild pitch, was brought in on a Steve Enright fielder’s choice. With 2 out, red hot Adam Enright hit a no doubter line drive out of left center to make it 2-0 after one.  Adam would end up 2-4 on the night, hitting the ball hard each at bat. Birthday boy Nic Ronkso, eager to contribute with his wife in the stands, went a solid 0-5 for the night with 2 K’s. According to all reports, even after a trip to Tilly’s, he ended the night striking out for the 3rd time to end his evening.

The A’s added another in the 2nd and two more in the 4th. After narrowly missing one on Thursday night and hitting one to the warning track in his first at bat, Mark Gjsedal hit a bomb in the 6th to put the A’s up 6-0. The heart of the order would go to work in the 7th as Josh Burnstad reached on an error on his season debut at bat. After singles by Adam and Matt Enright to load the bases, Ryan Yuha cashed in 2 RBI’s of his own on a single to make it 8-0. The A’s would tack on the 9th run on a Gjsedal sac fly later in the inning.

The 9-1 wins marks the 5th win in a row for the Athletics and they keep pace with Armena and Holden at the top of the league. The A’s will be home this weekend hosting a full 8 team tourney featuring teams from the PBL, BRBL, NCABL, and National Oldtimers hopefuls. Follow along on twitter this weekend for updates. League play resumes next Wednesday with a trip to Camrose to visit the Axemen, followed by a game against the Roadrunners on that same diamond Thursday.

The Athletics were eager to get back to work on Thursday night, after the mid game rainout versus the Expos on Monday.  With the Braves gaining some traction in the standings, it would be an important game to seperate the A's from the teams fighting for the wildcard 4th and 5th positions.  Also vital for Rosalind to keep pace with Holden and Armena for the pennant race in the PBL, as the back half of the season is quickly upon the teams.

Carter MacDonald's rubber left arm got the call to start for the A's, his team leading 3rd of the season.  The young talent on the team brought out the younger fan base to cheer on the A's.  MacDonald pitched well, but had to battle through some high leverage innings, as the lefty continues to work on his fastball command.  Two plays really stood out, as Carter helped himself by starting a 1-4-3 double play in the 2nd inning.  As well as picking off a Braves baserunner that led off the third inning with a double.  The young lefty was composed enough to step off the rubber and halt the Tofield momentum at third base.

The A's went on the offensive in the first inning against the veteran Tofield Braves pitcher, Corey Epp.  Rosalind lead off hitter, Chase Leslie, led it off with what felt like his tenth single in a row, stole second, went to third on some heads up base running on a Nic Ronsko fly ball to right center, and proceeded to score on a Steve Enright sac fly.  The inning continued when Sheldon Pederson got hit by a pitch in the head.  With Pederson in motion, Adam Enright continued his hot streak and hit a double that as able to score Pederson from first, a rarity in the dimension of the Homer Dome, putting the A's up 2-0 after one.

Designated Hitter, Matt Enright, kept the offence going with a single in the bottom of the second, followed by Mark Gjesdal's walk.  Chase Leslie extended his hitting streak with an infield single.  With the bases loaded, Nic Ronsko hit the second sac fly of the game for the A's, to make the score 3-1.

The bottom of the 3rd got off to a strong start after Pederson hit a double to left centerfield, and scored on Matt Enright's two out single.

The Rosalind Athletics closed up their five game home stand on Tuesday night, as the visiting Camrose Roadrunners came to town, sporting a 3-3 record.  After some contraversy regarding the Sherwood Park franchise folding, the A's were still in the hunt at the top of the standings, while the Roadrunners were also fighting for a wildcard spot.  Camrose aquired more Zimmer's onto their roster this offseason, increasing their talent and playoff hopes.

Carter MacDonald got his 3rd start of the year, coming off an quality outing against the Holden Blue Jays.  MacDonald was cruising through the game, almost unhittable in his three innings of work, as 8 of his 9 outs all came via strikeouts.  The first run for the Roadrunners came after the string of 5 straight strikeouts was broken up by the Camrose batter wearing an errant fastball in the shoulder.  A passed ball, wild pitch, and barely out of reach single allowed the Roadrunners to score first in the top of the second inning.  MacDonald lost his touch in the top of the 4th, as he walked the first three batters of the inning.  Carter ended up throwing 3 innings, allowing 4 runs, 2 earned on 2 hits, with 3 walks and 8 stike outs.

The Athletics broke the game open in the second inning, as Adam Enright contined his hot streak with a lead off single, in front of Matt Enright who hit a long double into centerfield.  After an error by the Camrose shortstop, Blake Sitler hit an RBI single that touched green, giving the A's a 3-0 lead with no one out.  Chase Leslie leads the A's in batting average, and added to his hit count and RBI's with another single to the opposite field.  Veteran's Ryan Yuha and Sheldon Pederson got in on the hit parade, with RBI signles of their own.  Adam Enright batted for the second time in the inning, lining a single to the outfield.  Mark Gjesdal was robbed of a bases clearing hit, after the Roadrunners shortshop misplayed a ball on a controversial interference call.  After the bottom of second, it was 6-1 for Rosalind. 

Matt Enright entered the game to pitch, after starter Carter MacDonald walked three straight in the top of the forth.  Enright enduced a tapper back to the mound, but bobbled the pick up to get the runner at home, and then threw the ball away at first, allowing 2 runs to score.  A sac fly by the Camrose centerfielder put another run on the board, to make it 6-4 for the Athletics.  Defence one again let the pitcher down, as a good pick on a hard hit ground ball went for not, as the throw got away from the A's firstbaseman.   Another unearned run made it a new game, as Rosalind had the 6-5 lead.

The rest of the way, Enright located his pitches with incredible consistency, covering the inside part of the plate against the Camrose batters.  Aside from the obligatory homer dome blast in the top of the 7th, Matt closed the door on the Roadrunners, and secured the win for the A's.  Enright threw a season high 4 innings, allowing 2 runs, 1 earned on one hit and no walks and 5 strikeouts.

In the bottom of the 5th, Rosalind tacked on some insurance runs, when then rightfielder Carter MacDonald hit a two out single.  Leslie once again followed it up with another team leading single, before Ryan Yuha cashed in a run to make the game 7-5.  Kobe Charchun earned an RBI on a bases loaded walk to extend the lead to 8-5.  No lead in the Homer Dome is safe, so when Mark Gjesdal walked and stole 2nd ahead of MacDonald barrelling up a rocket RBI single, the A's had some breathing room at 9-5 with no need to get their closer up in the bullpen.

The A's went on to win 9-6, and move to 6-2 on the season which has them in 3rd place in the standings narrowly behind Armena and Holden.  Carter MacDonald was selected as the Hagen Survey's Player of the Game because of his performance on both sides of the field, dominating on the mound, and 2 for 3 in the batters box with 2 RBI's.  Rosalind picks up next weeks schedule with a rare Monday game in Edmonton versus the 4th place Expos.

The Camrose Axemen made the county trek out to the Homer Dome on a smokey Thursday evening in the suburbs of Rosalind.  The forest fires up north put the playing of the game in Jepordy, but umpires and team managment on both sides thought that it was still likely playable.  The Atheltics were coming off two losses the previous week against the top ranked Royals and Blue Jays, before Sherwood Park forfeitted and folded from the league on Tuesday.  The Axemen are even younger than they were last season, their first in the PBL, but gave the A's fits last year in a memorable walkoff win for the Axemen.  To add more intrigue, two foremore Rosalind pitchers made the move the Axemen in the offseason.  The free agent loss of Twitchell and Foss definely depleted of the pitching depth of the A's rotation that Assistant General Manager Steve Enright worked hard to fill.

Griff Lorenz, one of the big left handed pitchers that the A's aquired in free agency, got his second start for Rosalind.  The lefty took on the lesser Sherwood Park Athletics in his first apperance, and continued his dominance versus the Axemen.  The Axmen got on the board first, after a the Camrose catcher hit a single to left field.  With two out, a high chopper to the right side of the diamond, turned into an infield single and allowed Willms to goto third on the slow developing play.  After stretching at first, Kobe Charchun tried to throw out the Axmen base runner, but the ball tailed wide of third basemen, allowing the run to score.

In the third inning, after a fly ball was misplayed in the outfield by the Athletics, the Axemen's catcher again did damage, golfing a low slider onto the track past the left field fence.  That was the first time Lorenz was victim to the Home Dome, as the Axemen went up 3-1 in the top of the third.  From there, the tall lefty was lights out, going the distance and allowing only two more hits.  Griffin threw 7 innings, in the complete game victory, allowing 3 runs, 1 earned off 6 hits, while striking out 12 and only walking one.

Rosalind cut into the Axemen's lead in the 2nd inning, through a combination of old and young A's talent.  Kobe Charchun got the A's started with a "routine" flyball hit hard to right field.  The Camrose outfielder wasn't able to camp under it, possibly due to the smokey skies, Charchun trotted into second after the ball dropped.  Veteran shortstop, Adam Enright, crushed a ground rule double to left center to cash in the first run for the A's.

Steve Enright lead off the bottom of the third inning with a single, as the Athletics were down 3-1.  After a stolen base and a ground out, young Charchun had a productive at bat, as Enright scored on his Sac Fly to right field.  Adam Enright would hit another double, but was eventually stranded at second.

That theme continued as Rosalind had runners in scoring position between the fourth and sixth innings, but a couple base running mistakes and inability to have timely clutch hitting had the A's down 3-2 going into the bottom of the seventh.  After Sheldon Pederson and Steve Enright came up empty handed, with two outs Ryan Yuha hit a ground ball in the hole between the thirdbasemen and the shortstop; a ball hit in just the right spot to allow Yuha to leg it out for an infield single.  Blake Sitler came off the bench to run for Yuha, as Kobe Charchun walked to put the tying run in scoring position.  Adam Enright continued to stay hot, as he hit a frozen rope to centerfield, almost to hard, as Sitler had to hold at third.  Pitcher, Griff Lorenz, won the battle as he drew a bases loaded walk to tie the game.  With Twitchell, the Axemen pitcher, showing signs of the pressure of the moment, Mark Gjesdal drew a base on balls, as the Athletics walked the Axemen with a 4-3 win.

The Hagen Surveys Player of the Game for the Rosalind Athletics was Adam Enright, as the shortstop went 3 for 4 with two doubles and a single and one RBI.  The A's next game is the end of their long five game home stand versus the Camrose Roadrunners on Tuesday at 7pm in Rosalind. 

The Rosalind Athletics continued their 5 game homestand, a rarity in the PBL, by hosting the Holden Blue Jays on Tuesday evening.  The two small towns have battled ever since the 2017 PBL Championship Finals, with the Rosalind prevailing.  Holden has been a perenial contending team, barely losing in the semifinals last season to the eventual PBL Champs.  Coming off a tough loss on Tuesday night, the A's were looking to get back on track, as the Blue Jays were sporting a 3-0-1 record, only 1 point up on the Athletics for second place.

The battle was billed as a very rare lefty versus lefty match up, as the A's sent Carter MacDonald to the hill for his second start.  Coming off the opening day start, where the youngster pitched well but gave up 9 walks, the Rosalind management staff was eager to see how MacDonald would respond to a tough Blue Jays lineup.  Carter pitched very well, and with much better command, showing the potential to be a front of the rotation starter for years to come.

Rosalind wasn't able to find many holes in the Blue Jays defence, and their lefty starter dominated the A's lineup.  Muzzechka was dealing, as he threw his fastball consistently for strikes, while his change up was almost unhittable.  The Athletics didn't make it easier on themselves, after Sheldon Pederson had a two out single, taking second an error by the leftfielder.  However, Pederson made the cardinal sin, getting thrown out attempting to steal third with 2 outs to kill the rally and leave two runners on base in the second inning with Steve Enright up to bat.  From there, multiple three up, three down innings followed with plently of K's on the Rosalind scorebook.  In the end, the A's only mustered 3 hits.

Brayden Benson came out of the bullpen, in relief and tried to put out the fire of the heavy right hand hitting Holden line up.  Benson's first inning gave the A's some momentum back with a clean frame on three straight batters.  However, the Homer Dome lived up to its name, as the Blue Jays hit multiple dingers, and none of them were wind aided.  Benson helped himself, picking off the pesky Holden baserunner in the 6th, to close out his appearence.  Dan Enright, after having been unavailable for the first 4 games of the season, took to the mound at the end of the game in the top of the seventh.  Giving up only one hit, and a little help as Pederson finally threw out a baserunner trying to steal third.

The A's look to snap the two game loosing streak at home on Tuesday against the Sherwood Park Athletics.  Rosalind played their name sake in the secon game of the season, coming away with a 10-3 win.