With 10 games still remaining the Okotoks Dawgs have more wins than ever before.
Okotoks (36-10) set a franchise wins mark in the Western Canadian Baseball League with 36 and clinched top-spot in the Western Division after getting past Lethbridge 10-2 in the first of three games with the Bulls Saturday night at Seaman Stadium.
“When you walk in here, we don’t really know who we’re facing each day,” said Dawgs all-star outfielder Davis Todosichuk. “There are a lot of good teams out there and a lot of good arms and just to know that other teams are beating each other and we’re staying on top is pretty impressive.”
The Dawgs finished with identical 35-12 records the past two summers. The 2019 season marked the debut of the expanded 56-game regular season, though Okotoks set its new wins mark with 10 more games before the playoffs, seven at home.
“It means a lot, but the league was shorter before so I think we’re going after winning percentage now,” Todosichuk said. “We’ve got a few more now to win to beat the old Dawgs teams and that’s what were set to do.
“We’re beating all these other teams and we’ve got to beat ourselves from the past which is a good thing to have.”
If Okotoks can reach the 40-win plateau it will have the WCBL regular season wins record locked down.
“It’s awesome to be a part of this year. Throughout the whole year we’ve been pretty consistent,” said Dawgs catcher Gavin Logan. “It’s awesome. You come to the ballpark every day and you know you’re going to have fun every day.”
The performances at Seaman Stadium are the engine behind the record-setting season. Okotoks is a staggering 19-2 in front of the Dawgs faithful.
“No one wants to lose at home, especially with Schmidty (head coach Mitch Schmidt), we’re not allowed to lose here,” Logan said. “That’s basically our mentality every time we walk out here, all these people come out and watch us and it’s awesome winning every game here.
“It sucks that we have those two losses, we were trying to go perfect all year, but it happens.”
Both the hitting and pitching totals are at or near the top of the summer league.
Okotoks leads the WCBL with 365 runs and 520 hits and on the mound are tops with 439 strikeouts and third overall with 167 earned runs against and 162 walks allowed.
Coach Schmidt has championed the team’s depth and it shows with 10 batters in the double digits for runs batted in along with 10 pitchers owning at least two wins.
“We can run three different lineups out there with whole new guys every day,” Logan said. “We get rest and always have fresh legs and you’re body is feeling okay all the time and it’s definitely nice to have that and the trust in the other guys.”
The Dawgs put up 15 hits and scored in six innings to rout the Bulls 10-2 Saturday.
Jaxon Valcke paced the offence with a solo home-run, two ribbies and three runs, Shay Schanaman added two RBI with Todosichuk, Logan, Jacob Melton, Riley Baasch and Noah Penney also driving in a run.
Hard-throwing righty Billy Brand pitched five innings, allowing two runs to pick up his fourth win of the campaign.
Okotoks opened the weekend by blanking the Edmonton Prospects 8-0 in the final of eight regular season meetings between the Western foes on Friday night.
Nolan Ruff improved to 7-0 on the campaign with a dominant seven-inning shutout, allowing just four hits and striking out eight. Relievers Galen Manhard and Tanner Simpson then shut the door over the final two innings to preserve the team’s second shutout of the summer.
Tristan Peters hit a two run dinger, Schanaman had a two RBI knock while Jacob Melton hit two triples and drove in a run.
The Dawgs conclude the weekend with a stop in Lethbridge on July 28 at 2:05 p.m. followed by a return trip home for the third of the set with the Bulls on July 29 at 7:05 p.m.
Okotoks is home to Brooks and Medicine Hat the following nights with the playoffs on the horizon, opening up on Aug. 8.
For more information go to dawgsbaseball.ca
