The Rockies wrapped up their five-game season series with the Calgary Diamondbacks on Friday night with a 9-3 victory. They end up taking the season series by going a dominant 4-1 against their cross-town rival, and have all but clinched a playoff berth and a spot in the South Division Final at the end of this month.

Despite this being the inaugural season for the Calgary Rockies, the franchise may have already seen a record set on Friday night that winds up standing the test of time. Rockies ace Curtis Smith (4-1) earned the complete game victory while retiring an absurd 17 batters by way of the strikeout. The Diamondbacks were still able to tally 10 hits on the night, but Smith was able to minimize the damage and come away with another quality start. He now leads the Sunburst League in strikeouts with 56 K’s through 33 IP and is boasting a 1.70 ERA.

The offense got the Rockies on the board early and often Friday night with a 3-run 1st inning, chasing Diamondbacks starter Jordan Wong from the game after the 1st, and continued to score runs in each of the next four innings before finally cooling off after nine runs crossed the plate. Friday night’s win marked the first game back for 3B Robbie Holmes who had been out since the Edmonton road trip in late June with a hamstring injury. He still wasn’t completely healthy but knew he could contribute as the DH and delivered by going 2-3 at the dish with a gutsy one-legged double and 3 RBI. Friday’s game also marked the first career appearance for mid-season addition Ben Swennumson who held down the keystone and ripped a couple singles to start his Rockies career.

The Rockies take an 8-6 record into their final set of games next weekend as they host the Edmonton Cubs and Edmonton Padres for a 4-game weekend series to be played at Foothills Stadium in NW Calgary. First pitch against the Cubs is scheduled for 12:00 PM on Saturday July 15th.

It was a tale of two halves in Thursday night’s game between the Riggers and Rockies at Webber Athletic Park. The Rockies jumped ahead 2-1 in the 3rd inning before adding another run in the 4th to make it 4-2 in their favor, but the wheels came off in the 5th inning when the Riggers scratched 3 runs across to take the lead and never looked back. The 12-6 final score was not as close as the game was, as the Rockies were threatening throughout the entire game, but could not come up with the timely hits when needed and ended up stranding a lot of runners.

Andrew Grieder (1-0) fought through some control issues and was only able to cover three innings in his start on Thursday night, but he battled hard enough to depart with a 3-2 lead before Brock Lenhardt entered and breezed through the 4th inning. Owen Steele (0-1) took over for the 5th inning but struggled to limit contact and ended up surrendering 3 runs on 5 hits in the inning. The big inning seemed to awaken the Riggers offense and they never turned it off after that point, piling on 8 more hits and 7 runs and taking sole possession of first place in the South Division with the win.

Rockies centerfielder Mike Goldade was the offensive standout in the contest going 3-3 with a double and two runs scored while adding two swipes to bring his team leading total to 8 on the year. Luke Wilson also made some noise with a monster solo shot to right field and continues to establish himself as a reliable force in the middle of the Rockies lineup.

The Rockies get to enjoy a hard-earned break in the schedule before hosting the cross-town rival Diamondbacks on July 7th at Webber Athletic Park, first pitch slated for 7:30pm.

As if to put an exclamation point on the 4-game road trip, the Rockies offense exploded for 16 hits, including huge home runs from Dale Bratz and Chris Cook, to earn a 13-5 victory and a split with the Tigers before heading home with a 2-2 record on the weekend. The Rockies now sit at 7-5 overall and are tied with the Red Deer Riggers for 1st in the South Division.

Rockies catcher/infielder Dale Bratz has been playing gold-glove defense at the keystone and filling in admirably behind the plate whenever called upon up to this point in 2023, but his performance at the plate had been the last remaining area that he felt was not meeting expectations. He smashed those expectations on Sunday afternoon with an enormous 5-hit day that included 5 RBI and a moonshot in the top of the 1st inning to hand the Rockies a 4-1 lead that they would never relinquish. The big day at the dish propelled Bratz to a .333/.400/.472 slash line and put him squarely in the conversation of becoming the Rockies first ever team MVP.

Not to be outdone, Chris Cook hit a solo shot of his own to lead off the 5th inning and extend the Rockies lead to 8-2, and continues to lift himself out of an ice cold stretch he suffered to start the season with another multi-hit performance.

Curtis Smith (3-1) toed the rubber for the Rockies and secured his third win of the season on the back of the Rockies bats by giving up two runs through five innings while striking out five. Rockies youngsters Brock Lenhardt and Tyson Kilbreath came in for an inning each of relief work and kept the Tigers offense at bay to secure the 13-5 victory.

The Rockies will be back in action this Thursday at home against the Red Deer Riggers before a short layoff, with the winner of Thursdays matchup taking sole possession of first place in the Sunburst’s South Division. First pitch is scheduled for 7:30pm.

For the second consecutive day, the Rockies dropped Game 1 of a doubleheader, this time to the St. Albert Tigers, when they let a 3-0 lead slip away in a 5th inning that saw the Tigers put up five of their six total hits in the contest.

Steven Latos (2-1) suffered his first loss of the season when the Tigers offense suddenly came to life in the 5th following four brilliant innings from the Rockies right-hander. A parade of seeing-eye singles with only one extra base hit and the only Rockies error of the game was all the Tigers would need to jump out to a 5-3 lead that would ultimately hold up. Tyson Kilbreath stranded two runners in his one inning of relief to give the Rockies offense a chance to claw back, but apart from Luke Wilson’s double in the 6th inning the Rockies offense had gone quiet.

Wilson continued his torrid June by chipping in a single and a double and scoring a run in this one. He pushed his team leading average up to .381 on the season, but he’s slashing a ridiculous .467/.556/.533 so far this month as the 19-year old has entered full break out mode just over halfway through the season.

Rockies infielder Chris Cook has begun showing signs of life at the plate and that continued during this game, as he was able to tally two hits himself and tack on two RBI to his season total. Cook had started the season 0 for his first 12 at-bats before registering his first knock on June 15th against Red Deer. Since that game he is slashing .273/.429/.364 and has looked much more comfortable at the plate, hopefully indicating there is more to come from his left-handed bat down the stretch!

The Rockies record falls to 6-5 with the loss, and they find themselves trying to salvage a split this afternoon before hitting the road to return to Calgary and wrapping up the Edmonton road trip for 2023.

The Rockies forced a split of the season series with the defending champion Athletics on Saturday afternoon, as a five run 6th inning was just enough to erase a 6-2 deficit and put the Rockies ahead and salvage the series.

Andrew Grieder (1-0) was stuck with the no decision but pitched admirably through his 4.1 innings. He left the game down 6-2 but had only allowed 1 earned run as the defense struggled mightily behind him committing 3 errors. Reliever Desmond Sullivan (1-1) entered the game with one out in the 5th inning and proceeded to let only 2 of the next 8 men reach base which proved to be just enough time for the Rockies offense to shake off the rust from the drive to Edmonton and start scratching some runs across in the 6th. After slamming the door again in the 6th the Rockies called on two-way player Ken Falconer to make his first pitching appearance of the season and he delivered a 7-pitch save to lock up the win for the Rockies.

Offensively, Mike Goldade and Kayde Kinaschuk paced the offense with two hits each, and Goldaded tacked on two RBI to go along with his hits as well. The Rockies leadoff hitter now has his OBP up to .500 on the season and continues to set the table effectively for the Rockies offense. Kinaschuk’s bat remains scorching hot as his two hits pushed his season average up to .462 in a small-sample 13 plate appearances, and the young outfielder continues to acquit himself well against Sunburst competition.

The Rockies take a 1-1 record into their last two games of the 4-game road trip tomorrow in St. Albert where they will try to sweep the Tigers and take three wins home to Calgary with them, first pitch is scheduled for 9AM at Legion Memorial Ballpark!

The Rockies were scheduled to get their tougher opponent out of the way early during this year’s Edmonton road trip. Game 1 of a doubleheader with the defending provincial champion Sherwood Park A’s kicked off at 12pm and the A’s jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st and never looked back as they stymied the Rockies offense for long enough to add some insurance and come away with a 4-2 victory.

Greg Hollman (0-1) toed the rubber for what was his second start of the season for the Rockies and pitched well despite the loss going 4 innings and only allowing 3 earned runs while limiting A’s hitters to relatively soft contact.

In an uncharacteristically quiet day for the Rockies offense, outfielder Mitch Murphy and catcher Luke Wilson were the lone bright spots and provided 2 hits a piece out of the bottom half of the order which was good for over half of the teams 7 hits in the contest. Wilson, one of the youngest players in the Sunburst League, continues to impress as he drove his average up to .375 with the Game 1 performance, good for 3rd on the team among qualified hitters.

Game 2 of the doubleheader with Sherwood Park kicks off after a short break where the Rockies hope to force a split before heading into St. Albert tomorrow for two games with the Tigers.

The back and forth series between Red Deer and the Rockies continued on Thursday night at Webber Athletic Park, as the Riggers scored a run with two outs in the 7th to tie the game and tacked on another run in the 8th inning to take one run lead that would hold up for a final score of 7-6, evening the season series 2-2.

The Rockies offense came out firing with a three run 1st inning on the back of a Steve Mackenzie 2-run double in his first career Rockies appearance. They would go on to add runs in the 4th, 5th, and 6th with leadoff man Mike Goldade setting the table all night by drawing three walks in five plate appearances and tacking on a single and a swipe to his line for good measure. Luke Wilson led the team with two hits in his three AB’s including an RBI and a run scored in this contest.

Andrew Grieder (1-0) didn’t have his best bat-missing stuff, but battled through five innings and left with the game tied 5-5 to take a no decision in his second turn through the rotation this year. He gave up four earned runs on seven hits and no walks while striking out two. Desmond Sullivan came out of the bullpen strong and retired the Riggers in order in the 6th which allowed the Rockies to retake the lead in the bottom half of the inning. He would go back out for the 7th and got the Rox to within one out of sealing the victory before Red Deer sluggers Josh Edwards and Jason Louis hit back-to-back doubles to tie the game at 6-6. With the Rockies unable to score in the bottom of the 7th, Tyson Kilbreath was brought in to try and keep the Riggers at bay but would eventually be stung with the loss when a run scored on a fileder’s choice and the Rockies weren’t able to get anything going in the bottom of the 8th.

The Rockies have some time off before heading up to Edmonton for their first North Division road trip that will see them play four games in two days versus the Sherwood Park Athletics and St. Albert Tigers. The action kicks off at 12pm on Saturday at Centennial Park #9 in Sherwood Park.

The Rockies improved to a 5-2 record on the young season with a tight 2-1 win in Red Deer over the Riggers last night in what was the last of a string of three road games against their Central Alberta opponent.

Curtis Smith (2-1) was outstanding for the Rockies on the mound as he stymied the Riggers offense in a complete game victory, holding them to one run and only three hits while striking out fourteen batters. He pushed his league leading strikeout total to 34 in the effort.

In what was ultimately a quiet offensive night by Rockies standards, a first inning rally fueled by a Riggers error allowed the Rox to scratch two runs across early and that proved to be all that was needed the rest of the way. Clutch RBI singles from Lane Aman and Ken Falconer scored Luke Carmichael and Travis Gaudet who had reached on a single and error respectively early in the first. Although he didn’t contribute to the first inning rally, Shaun Connor paced the offense as the only hitter to tally multiple hits, going 2-3 with a couple singles later in the contest.

The Rockies have a short turn around with the Riggers coming to town tomorrow, June 15th, for their first visit to Webber Athletic Park and look to extend their lead in the season series. First pitch is scheduled for 7:30pm.

The Rockies lost a tough one Tuesday night in Sylvan Lake to the Riggers. Pitching and defense had been the calling card for the club up to this point, but some untimely errors lead to a hole that the red-hot offense just couldn’t dig themselves out of in this one.

Desmond Sullivan (0-1) got the starting nod for the Rockies and, despite battling his command throughout the night, pitched well enough for the Rockies to have a chance at getting out of there with a win. He ended up allowing nine runs (four earned) and striking out seven while allowing six hits through four innings.

The Rockies offense continued to roll as all but two players were able to tally base hits in the contest, they finished with a team total of thirteen knocks. Curtis Beaudoin earned his first Player of the Game nod as his bat woke up in a loud way on Tuesday night. The first baseman finished just a homer shy of the cycle in a 3 for 4 day at the plate. Catcher/Infielder Lane Aman also pitched in three hits of his own and tallied two RBIs in the game to boost his season average to .389. Kayde Kinaschuk and Mitch Chicoine both found their first knocks of the campaign as well with each going 2 for 3 and Dale Bratz made his one hit count as he stung a loud triple into the left-center gap in the early going.

Both of the Rockies next two games come against the Riggers and could prove to be very important in terms of the playoff picture with the season series now even at 1-1. The next contest is slated for Tuesday June 13th at Great Chief Park in Red Deer, 7:30pm first pitch.

The Rockies took sole possession of first place in the South Division on Tuesday night as they earned a convincing road win in their first matchup of the season with the Red Deer Riggers. The game was closer than the final score would indicate as the Rockies clung to a 2-1 lead from the 1st inning until they tacked on another run in the 5th for some breathing room. The Riggers turned to their bullpen in the sixth and that’s when the Rockies poured it on to put the game away with a three-run 6th and a two-run 7th.

Luke Carmichael stole the show yet again at the plate, thus making the Player of the Game honors a mere formality, as he launched his second homer of the young season, tying him for the league lead with Andrew Malone of the Diamondbacks. He would finish with three knocks including a double and the aforementioned homer, and chipped in another two RBI and two runs scored and now leads the team in OPS, HR, Hits, RBI, and is tied for the lead in Runs Scored. Outfielder Travis Gaudet and second basemen Dale Bratz both had healthy days at the dish contributing three and two base hits respectively as well, overall another solid offensive showing from this Rockies club.

On the mound, Greg Hollman (0-0) got the start and was pitching great before being hit by a hard line drive comebacker in the forearm of his throwing arm in the 3rd inning. Hollman would try to tough it out but ultimately had to be removed from the game early. Luckily the Rockies had some solid relief provided by Steven Latos (2-0) who came in on short notice to provide two shutout innings of relief and earn his second win of the season. He was followed by Curtis Smith who provided an additional two innings of scoreless relief to close out the game in what was an impromptu bullpen day for the Rockies staff. Early reports are that Hollman avoided serious injury and should be back on the mound in short order.

The Rox sit at 4-1 and have a well deserved break before they travel back up to visit the Riggers next Tuesday June 6th, this time at Gulls Stadium in Sylvan Lake, for a 7:30pm start.