Canada Day!

Canada Day is only in a day away and there is lots going on at Spitz Stadium. It will start off in the morning with a pancake breakfast starting at 8:00am until 10:00am; for $3.00 you get an all you can eat supply of pancakes, 3 sausages, and scrambled eggs. If you want to support a good cause and are not afraid to shave your hear be here at 10:00am for The Great Canadian Hairdo for the Terry Fox Foundation. At 10:30am there will be family introductions to baseball. We will also be having a kids carnival starting at 12:00pm including: horse and carriage rides from 1:00-2:00pm, face painting, and a Big Blue Dog bounce house for the kids from 12:00-5:00pm. At 2:05pm the first game against the Medicine Hat Mavericks will begin. The second game against the Mavericks will start at 7:35pm. Throwing the first pitch in the second game will be Stanley Cup winner Chris Versteeg. Chris will be taking pictures and signing autographs for fans between the first and second innings. After the second game make sure to stick around to watch the annual Canada Day fireworks go off from Henderson Park. Fireworks are set to go off at 11:00pm.

Three Game Victory

Last night the Lethbridge Bulls managed to redeem themselves over the Okotoks Dawgs. After losing to the Dawgs 9-2 on June 8^th, the Lethbridge Bulls won last nights game with a final score of 8-1. The Bulls are on a three game winning streak after beating the Yorkton Cardinals Sunday 6-3 and then again on Monday 6-1. This is good news for the Bulls after the unfortunate two game loss against the Medicine Hat Mavericks. On Friday night the Bulls hosted the Medicine Hat Mavericks but lost 6-4. Then on Saturday the Bulls traveled down to Medicine Hat to challenge them again. It was a close game but the Mavericks ended up with the win of 11-10. The Lethbridge Bulls will be in Medicine Hat on Thursday and then will be hosting the Saskatoon Yellow Jackets this upcoming Friday and Saturday.

The Season So Far...

The Bulls started their season off on May 28^th by visiting Edmonton and winning 13-4. But, due to bad weather conditions the team was unable to play their second game against Edmonton, so they headed back home with the great feeling of winning their first game. Their next game in Medicine Hat was also canceled due to the pouring rain, but they were able to play a double header against Medicine Hat the following day. The Bulls we unable to beat the Mavericks in the first game with the final score being 5-1, but came back in the second game winning 6-3. Playing back to back games against the Edmonton Prospects on home opener weekend (June 4^th and 5^th) the Bulls managed to win both their games winning 8-2 on Friday and 5-4 on Saturday. The Bulls are now on a 9 game road trip, and started it off playing the Swift Current Indians. The Bulls ended up losing their game to the Indians with a final score of 3-1. The following day the Bulls played the Okotoks Dawgs. With the game cut short due to rainy conditions the Bulls lost another game. The Dawgs beat us 9-2. On Friday June 11^th the Bulls played a double header game against the Saskatoon Yellow Jackets. The Bulls ended up winning one game 5-2, but lost the second game 3-1. On Saturday the Bulls played their first game against the Weyburn Beavers winning 5-4, but lost Sunday 6-7. Last night the Bulls played against the Swift Current Indians and had an unfortunate loss with a final score of 0-4. The Bulls end their road trip by playing two games against the Moose Jaw Miller Express. GO BULLS GO!! The Bulls next home game will be Friday June 18^th, 2010.

2009 Season Recap

The Bulls opened the season on a cool, rainy night in May
against the Medicine Hat Mavericks and wrapped up the season on another overcast, dreary night in August against Medicine Hat. The Bulls won their home opener, a rain-shortened game, with Matt Bannister getting the pitching victory. The wrap up of the season was the deciding game of an opening round best-of-five play off series. The Mavericks beat the Bulls to take the series
3-2 and advanced to the meet the Okotoks Dawgs in the West Division Final.

In between the home opener and play off finale the Bulls compiled a record of 25 wins and 21 losses, finishing second in the WMBL's West Division seven and-a-half games back of Okotoks. The Bulls were 16 and 7 at home in 2009, but were only 9 and 14 on the road. The team's losing record on the road and struggles against Okotoks were the two negative factors in an otherwise solid regular season. (The Bulls had a 3 and 7 record against the Dawgs in 2009.)

Scott Rhodes took over the team as Head Coach last year and is back for a second season in 2010. His coaching staff included John Henry Marquardt and former Bulls standout and league Most Valuable Player
Ken Fuglerud. Marquardt has returned for a second season, and Fuglerud is coaching this season with the Vauxhall Spurs in American Legion Baseball. Ryan MacDonald has joined the coaching staff for 2010 after three seasons in the Bulls line-up.

The team was led offensively by shortstop Dustin Bissonnette, third baseman Jesse Sawyer, and rookie outfielder Zach Rhodes. The veteran shortstop returned
to the Bulls after one season with the Swift Current Indians and led the team with a .345 batting average and an on base percentage of .473. Sawyer led the team in three offensive categories: home runs (7), runs batted in (43) and total bases (78). After graduating from he Prairie Baseball Academy as the program's all time hits leader Rhodes made a smooth transition into the Bulls line-up. The sweet swinging lefty led the team in hits (51) and doubles (16).

Two solid righthanders who return to the Bulls this season were the workhorses of the starting rotation on the mound. Adam Reynolds had a record of 5 wins and 3 losses, pitched the most innings on the club (56.1), and recorded 40 strikeouts. Right behind Reynolds was Alex Tufts, with 51.2 innings pitched and 43 strikeouts. Two members of the bullpen led the team in three of the key pitching categories. Richard Pharr had the most wins with a 6 and 1 record and also had the most strikeouts with 60. Steve Hogue had the lowest earned run average at 2.20.

Catcher/Designated Hitter Joel Blake was named the Bulls Most Valuable Player. The Prairie Baseball Academy
grad was second on the team with a .312 batting average, collecting 44 hits and 57 total bases, with a .404 slugging percentage. He was moved up to the lead off spot in the batting order midway through the season and served as the catalyst for a number of offensive rallies.

The best-of-five divisional semi-final series opened at Spitz Stadium, with Medicine Hat winning game one 8-5 and the Bulls bouncing back to take game two 7-5. The series switched to the Gas City for games three and four. The Bulls won the third game 16-10 and the Mavericks took game four 1-0. Medicine Hat closed out the series with a 6-1 win at Spitz Stadium in game five, breaking open a close game in the late innings. The fourth game was the turning point in the series. After hammering 17 hits in the third game the Bulls could only manage three hits in the fourth game. Rookie righthander Brandon
Petite was the hard-luck losing pitcher, going the distance and allowing only five hits with ten strikeouts. His one mistake was a solo home run.

Canada Day, July First, was the highlight of the season for the ball club. The game on Canada Day 2008 was wiped out by a record rainstorm, but the Bulls made up for it last year. After a pancake breakfast at Spitz Stadium in the morning the team hosted the Edmonton Prospects for a day-night doubleheader.

The game in the afternoon was being made up from an earlier rain out. Four Bulls pitchers combined for 16 strikeouts in a 7-1 win. Prior to the evening game the Bulls held a special ceremony to recognize the team's tenth anniversary. President and General Manager Kevin Kvame paid tribute to the Bulls original owner Doug Jones, who brought the team to Lethbridge in 1999.

The game that followed was played before a record crowd at Spitz Stadium, estimated at 1850 people. All the seating was sold out and an overflow standing room crowd filled every other available space in the ballpark. The game went eleven innings, with Jamie Mitchell scoring the winning run in a 3-2 victory on a sacrifice fly by Zach Rhodes. Just as Mitchell slid into home with the winning run the fireworks started to go off over
Henderson Lake, as the fans went down on the field to celebrate Canada's birthday and a full day of fun at the ballpark.

Since the unscheduled day-night doubleheader was such a success on Canada Day last year the Bulls have added it to the team's schedule for 2010. The Bulls host the Medicine Hat Mavericks for two games on July 1 this year, 2:05 pm for the first game, and 7:35 pm for the nightcap, with fans invited to remain at Spitz Stadium after the game to watch the fireworks.

Written By: Bryan Jeannotte