Neepawa Farmers lose MSBL home opener

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Published on Thursday, May 28, 2015

Photo by Eoin Devereux

By Eoin Devereux

The Neepawa Banner

A familiar name in a new uniform proved to be the undoing for the Neepawa Farmers in their Manitoba Senior Baseball League home opener against the Oak River Dodgers.  Former Brandon Cloverleaf and 2014 league MVP Matt Gunning went 3-for-4 at the plate, with a home run and two doubles to help lead the Dodgers to a 7-6 win over Neepawa on Tuesday, May 26.

Pitcher Brody Smith earned the victory on the mound for Oak River with 2 2/3 innings of three-hit relief. Trent Nelson meanwhile registered the loss for the Farmers. 

At the plate, Garrett Rempel of Neepawa went 2-for-3 and drove in three runs, while Matt Sneesby registered two hits and a pair of RBI.

The game would open up in the bottom of the fifth inning, when the Farmers scored five runs to take a 6-2 lead. The Dodgers quickly countered however in the top of the sixth with five runs of their own for a 7-6 advantage. Oak River was then able to cool off the Neepawa bats in the seventh and eighth innings to maintain its lead. The game was called at the end of the eighth due to darkness.

After the game, Farmers manager Mike Levandosky noted that it was a very close contest throughout, as both teams matched up very well on the field. He said there were a few positives to take away from this outing.

“We really had only one bad inning. I felt that our players made some good plays in the outfield. We scored some runs when we needed them, but we also left a few on the bases, so that’s something to work on. We came up one run short, but all things considered, it’s not a bad start,” said Levandosky. 

The other game on the MSBL schedule on Tuesday, saw the Brandon Marlins earn a 6-5 win over the defending Manitoba Senior Baseball League champions the Brandon Cloverleafs. 

The next home game for the Neepawa Farmers is scheduled for Sunday, May. 31 against the Cloverleafs, starting at 6:00 pm.