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Burnstad and Benson hit bombs in the Homer Dome, while Gjesdal and Brett Yuha closed the door for the come from behind win.

Story and stats to be posted shortly.

After a difficult, although deserved, loss on Tuesday night in Leduc, the Athletics hosted the Leduc Milleteers in a back to back, home and home series.  The A's many too many errors on Tuesday to anticapte a win, and a couple of controversial calls by the umpires made the resulting failed comeback tougher to swallow.  With first place on the line, the Athletics were eager to get back on track and create some seperation as the play off push looms.

Ryan Yuha got the start on the well manicured Rosalind mound, his second start since the season opener and third appearance since his save versus Armena.  Yuha cruised through the Leduc line up through four innings before running into trouble in the fifth inning.  A double and two walks, followed by a single spelled the end of Yuha's night.  His final line showing 4 2/3 innings pitched, 2 runs on 3 hits with 2 walks and 1 strike out.  Mark Gjesdal come in from centerfield to close out the inning and the next.  Gjesdal threw 1 1/3 allowing 1 run on 2 hits with 2 stikeouts in the book.

The Rosalind offence put two big innings on the scoreboard, one the old fashioned way, the other from an unlikey, but continued homerun threat.  In the bottom of the first inning, Sheldon Pederson led off with a single and stolen base before the clutch hitting veteran Ryan Yuha drove him in with an RBI single and stole second himself. Brayden Benson drew what would be his first of three walks of the game.  The A's capitalized on an error and fielders choice, before Brett Yuha and Nic Ronsko both hit an RBI singles to put 5 runs on the board.  In the fourth inning Benson drove in Ryan Yuha with an RBI double, followed by Mark Gjesdal's deep fly ball to centerfield that Adam Enright scored on.  The bottom of the sixth inning, resulted in a walkoff mercy win for the Athletics when Nic Ronsko hit a grand slam over the leftfield fence.

Rosalind travelled north to Leduc on Tuesday night, looking to extend their unbeaten streak again a strong Leduc Milleteers team. Prior to the Athletics joining the Powerline Baseball League, the Milleteers had won the league five times in a row from 2009 to to 2013.  Leduc added additional talent when Beaumont folded prior to the start of the season, making them a strong contender for a long playoff run.

Dan Enright got his third start of the season, coming off a winning effort against the Armena Royals two games ago.  The youngest Enright, uncharacteristically struggled early in the bottom of the first, after two singles and an bang bang play loaded the bases.  Enright proceeded to walk the next two batters and force in two runs for the Milleteers, before a third scored on another single.  The usually strong Athletics defence wasn't sharp, as multiple errors continued innings and prolonged Leduc's innings.  After three back to back to back singles in the 4th inning and one out, the Athletics pulled Dan and brought in closer, Matt Enright.  The grizzled veteran proceeded to get a bases loaded double play to get out of the inning and give the A's a chance at another comeback.  Matt pitched two more clean innings, in the third game that he's finished for Rosalind this season.

Offensively, the Athletics got off to a good start as Adam Enright drove in Steve Enight after his two out double in the top of the first inning.  After Adam reached on an error, and Ryan Yuha followed with a single, rookie Tanner Foss hit his first of two RBI singles in the game to make it 5-2 for Leduc.  Yuha led off the top of the 6th with a single before Brayden Benson continued his hot streak at the plate with an RBI double, his second of the game; and later scored on Foss's single.  Rosalind had a rally going in the top of the seventh, after Adam had scored to make it a one run game, and with runners on first and second, a groundball hit to the Milleteers second baseman had Nic Ronsko evading the tag as he dove into second.  Controversially, the base umprire called him out on a tag that seemingly missed, to end the game.

The Milleteers and Athletics get right back at it, in the second half of a home and home series this week with game two in Rosalind on Thursday at 7pm.

On Thursday night, the Athletics travelled to Camrose to take on the Roadrunners for the second time in this young season.  The A's used a lenghty 7 run first inning to eventually take down the Camrose squad 8-4, without registering a hit after the first inning.  Rosalind suffered a tight 3-2 loss last year in Camrose, so the A's were eager not to repeat that performance, especialy without a handful of core veterans unable to make it to the game.

After a short "get your arm ready" first pitching appearance of the season, Brayden Benson made his first start and second appearance, after battling a shoulder injury that almost landed him on the 3-day DL.  Benson threw strikes, but the Roadrunners were up hacking at the plate, early and often.  The youngster gave up 5 hits in the first inning, resulting in 3 runs against.  Benson admitted to overthrowing, possibly with his girfriend and new puppy in the stands (*that may be an editorial comment rather than fact), but Brayden settled in during the next 3 innings, only allowing one more hit and no runs.  Benson ended up going 4 innings, allowing 3 runs on 6 hits, while striking out 3 and surrendering no walks.  Mark Gjesdal made his second appearance after a long seeding hiatus, going 2 innings and allowing one run on two hits and one walk.  Brett Yuha came into close out the game and make his first pitching appearance of the season.

Offensively, Rosalind got off to a quick start capitalizing on a couple of Roadrunner errors before Mark Gjesdal and Brayden Benson hit back to back singles with runners in scoring position to put four runs on the board.  The offence continued to fire in the top of the second inning after Camrose scored 3 runs of their own in the bottom of the first.  Sheldon Pederson and Adam Enright scored after their double steal that caught Adam talking farming with the first basemen, but still gave him enough time to stroll into second.  Clayton Harbak twinkled around the bases after Gjesdal hit a triple to center field.  The Rosalind offence got rolling again when Matt Enright, Pederson and Adam Enright all reached base before Harbak hit drove in his 4th runs of the game.

The Athletics take on the Leduc Milleteers twice next week, Tuesday in Leduc and Thursday at the Homer Dome in Rosalind.  See you there!

The Rosalind Athletics travelled to Tofield for the first time since joining the PBL to take on the Braves for the second time this season.  The A's were victorious in the season opener versus the Braves, 5-3, led by homeruns by Nic Ronsko and Sheldon Pederson.  The Atheltics have met the previous Ryley Rebels in the first round of the playoffs in their first two seasons in the PBL, creating a bit of a rivalry with the newly formed Tofield team.

Steve Enright got his second start of the season, coming off a strong performance against the Camrose Roadrunners on May 30th.  Tofield made Enright work in the bottom of the first inning after a quick first two outs. A walk sandwiched between two singles put the Braves on the board first, followed by an close 3-2 walk that the Athletics thought caught the Braves first baseman looking.  The following 2 run double took the wind out of the sails of the Athletics.  Enright worked around 11 hits through 5 1/3 innings, with only one other run scoring to put the Braves up 4-0.  Matt Enright came in the bottom of the 6th inning, with the bases loaded and one out to try to halt the Braves from putting the game out of reach.  The A's defacto closer got a pop up and struck out the Braves most feared hitter to give Rosalind a chance to put together a rally from down 4-2.  After the A's took the lead in the top of the seventh, Matt Enright racked up his second save of the season.

Offensively, Rosalind didn't put much pressure on the Tofield defence until the 4th inning.  Clayton Harbak hammered a ball into the left centerfield gap, and the speedster took second when the centerfielder bobbled the ball.  Sheldon Pederson followed with a hard hit ball to rightfield and stole second to put runners at second and third for Brayden Benson with two out.  The youngest, and owner of a new puppy, Hank, singled to cash both runners and provide the A's with some momentum and hope.  With the A's down 4-2, the Braves brought in their closer after Corey Epp had pitched 6 innings for Tofield.  The A's, Steve and Matt Enright, worked a walk and single to put the tying run on base with two outs.  After a wild pitch, put both runners in scoring position, the Braves intentionally walked Clayton Harbak to load the bases.  With two out and a full count, Sheldon Pederson hit a ground ball that squeaked through the right side and score the tying run.  Nic Ronsko followed with a walk to load the bases again, and Brayden Benson worked a walk as well, for his third RBI of the game and the eventual game winning run.

Matt Enright and Clayton Harbak both had 3 hits, while Pederson and Benson both had two hits each with Brayden hitting a single and a double.

Rosalind travels to Camrose to take on the county cousins on Thursday night at Harry Andreasson field at 7pm.

It was a rematch battle of the epic Powerline Baseball League Championship series of 2016 when the Armena Royals came to town on Wednesday night.  A rescheduled game from a previous rain out had the A's lineup a little thin, but Rosalind saw a familar foe in the other dugout, as allstar Jordan Hoover was back in Camrose after having moved back to Ontario in the offseason.  Hoover had played in a couple tournaments with the Athletics over the past two seasons, and provided a couple key hits in the 2016 finals before the A's went on to win in 16 innings.  This is the first match up against Armena this season, with Rosalind getting off to a decent start at 3-0, while the Royals have struggled at 0-2.

Dan Enright made his second start of the season, after being the opening day starter versus the Tofield Braves.  Enright started the deciding portion of the rubber match in the finals versus Armena, marking the 5th start for the youngest Enright in the last 2+ seasons. Enright cruised through the first five innings, keeping the Royals off balance with what Enright said "wasn't his best stuff."  Enright had fallen behind in the count more often than his typical pitching performance had dicated.  The sixth inning was different, as the Royals got back to back singles to lead off the inning.  Steve Enright's canon arm was able to pick off a runner at home in a first and third situation.  The A's good luck didn't continue though, as fly ball to centerfield with 2 out and 2 on fooled the Athletics centerfielder and others calling the ball, allowing it to get over the centerfielders head and scored 2 on the triple.  The Royals were able to capitalize on another tricky fly ball to right field, but the A's were able to relay and get the runner at home and out of the inning, but down 4-3.

Offensively, much like the Royals, the A's were kept off the scorebook until late in the game.  In the fifth inning, after the top of the order first two batters got on base after Ryan Yuha hit a textbook hole in a hit and run, Adam Enright bunted both runners into scoring position. Sheldon Pederson walked to load the bases before Matt Enright grounded into a possible double play, right at Royals shortstop Hoover.  However, the relay throw from the second baseman wasn't able to be corralled by the first baseman, allowing the inning to continue.  Matt was as able to get his legs pumping, and fly into a stolen base to put more runners in scoring position. Young Rosalindite, Brock Sheets, was able to come through with a clutch single to drive in the third runs of the inning.

After the Royals had rallied for four runs in the top of the sixth, the Athletics were having to come up with a couple runs to secure a win.  With two out, Rosalind caught a break, as the Royals shortstop made an uncharacteristic error.  Adam Enright followed with a double to the left center power alley. Sheldon Pederson was able to provide the lucky 2 RBI single, and Matt Enright drove in Pederson with a single up the middle.  Brayden Benson kept the train rolling, with an RBI single of his own to put the A's up by 3.

With Rosalind up by three in the top of the 7th, 6-3, and Enright still on the hill, Armena strung together three hits and the tying run on base.  Rosalind made a pitching change, bringing in Ryan Yuha to face Doug Morris.  A ground out scored a run, and left a base open to intentionally walk Jordan Hoover for the second time in the game.  With the bases again loaded, Yuha got a ground out that turned out to be quite the bang bang play and the win for the Athletics.

The Athletics looked to get back into the rythym of the Powerline season, after a couple rainouts and a bye, hosting the Camrose Roadrunners on Tuesday night. The Roadrunners have had quite the turnaround, sitting atop the league standings after a few seasons near the bottom.  That combined with the 3-2 loss in Camrose last year, made the match up more intersting.

Steve Enright got the start for the Rosalind squad, making his first appearance on the mound early in the season.  The veteran right hander cruised throught he first three innings, all three up three down, before running into trouble in the fourth inning.  The first two batters were hit before an old BRBL Spring Lake foe, Lance Zimmer hit a double to left field.  A few more seeing eye bloops found holes before a third run scored in the the fourth.  Steve ended up throwing 5 innings, allowing 4 runs while allowing 5 hits while striking out 2.  Matt Enright, fresh off the 5 day DL stint with a "lower body injury" (ask him about it), came in to close out the game.  Matt threw 2 perfect innings, facing the minimum and striking out two as well, spoting pitches almost exactly where he wanted at will.

The A's offence got off to a hot start against the Roadrunners, sending 12 batters to the plate in the bottom of the first.  A couple singles before the Camrose pitcher had issues throwing strikes turned into 7 runs on the board for the Athletics.  The hits dried up though, as the A's didn't put a hit in the scorebook for the rest of the game, but did manage to score another run.  Ryan Yuha led the way with two hits, a single and a double, with Brandon Heck and Steve Enright adding singles of their own.  Eight runs on 4 hits, not the typical or sustainable way to win a ball game, but the A's disiplined eye at the plate payed off.

In a reschedule of a previous rainout game, the Armena Royals travel to Rosalind on Wednesday night.  A rematch of the epic PBL Championship series and "best game every played".  Come out and watch the Athletics at 7pm on Wednesday night.