PRESS RELEASE – In circumstances when the communities needed it most, the Okotoks Dawgs Baseball Club of the Western Major Baseball League, delivered a home run. With horrific floods over the past week causing a regional state of emergency in the greater Calgary area and devastating the nearby town of High River, the Dawgs welcomed a record shattering crowd of 4,445 fans to Seaman Stadium as part of a Canada Day Extravaganza.
It was an all day affair with the first fans arriving at 12 noon for a 7:05 PM start. The day included musical entertainment, various promotions and give-a-ways, along with a spectacular post game fireworks display. Most importantly, the game was played in honour of the thousands of victims of the flood and featured a charitable fundraiser co-sponsored by the Dawgs and the EAGLE family of radio stations. In total, the Dawgs and their supporters generated donations of over $44,000 in support of flood victims.
The Canada Day baseball game that matched up the “back to back to back”, 2007 through 2009, WMBL Champion Dawgs against the reigning repeat WMBL Champions, the Regina Red Sox, also provided a much needed distraction from the horrific events of the past week. The (17-5) Dawgs followed up a 9-6 win on Sunday to complete the sweep with a 5-0 shut victory on July 1st that delighted home fans.
Tom Zarosinski (George Fox University) got his first start and win of the season dominating Red Sox hitters over 7 2/3rds innings giving up no runs on six hits with five strikeouts. Dominic Porretta (Otterbein University) continued to be a force out of the Dawgs bullpen pitching 2/3rds of an inning of scoreless baseball before turning the ball over to Dawgs closer Ryan Serrato (Georgetown College) to record the final 2 outs and complete the shut out. Porretta has been selected to receive the 2013 TD Ameritrade Fan’s Choice Award which will be presented at this year’s NCAA College Home Run Derby in Omaha, Nebraska. The Awards Ceremony and the Home Run Derby will be nationally broadcast on ESPN on July 4th.
Offensively, the Dawgs were led by former JR Dawgs, Canadian JR National Team player and Milwaukee Brewers draft pick, Chris Shaw (Midland College) who contributed three hits and two RBIs. Thomas Rodrigues (Niagara University) also came up big going 2-4 with a run scored.
The Dawgs continue to draw fans to beautiful Seaman Stadium in Okotoks, Alberta at a record breaking pace currently averaging 2794 fans per game, up 500 fans per game from 2012.
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