Estevan's Kris Keating threw "the game of his life" Saturday for the Â鶹ÊÓƵeast Royals, but the damage had already been done thanks to a marathon in Friday's tournament opener.The Royals, who finished fourth in the Prairie Midget Baseball League, drew the third-place Regina Mets for their first game at AAA provincials in Saskatoon.Scheduled for seven innings, the contest went 10 and ended in a 14-10 win for the Mets."Eric Evans started that game and we got in some trouble because of pitch count rules so we had to pull him out," said Royals assistant coach Tom Copeland. "With a game that long you just run out of pitching."With the loss the Royals knew the result of their next game would be of little consequence, so they took the opportunity to give some of their younger pitchers more playing time in a 13-3 mercy-rule loss to the Moose Jaw Cardinals.Next up was the "do-or-die" game with the Regina Wolfpack, the PMBL's second-place team this year.On the strength of a Nate Ferris RBI single and Keating's pitching, the Royals came away with a 2-1 win and a spot in the playoff round."He threw the game of his life," said Copeland. "Kris threw a 100-pitch, seven-inning, absolutely dominant performance. He just owned the guys."The Royals went on to lose 3-0 to the eventual-champion Saskatoon Giants and 8-4 to Moose Jaw to end their provincial run with a 1-4 record."We hit the ball well but their all-world outfield just stoned us," said Copeland. "They've got probably the two best outfielders in the province right now."The Royals will close out their season with the PMBL playoffs. Their opening series is against the Saskatoon Diamondbacks.A series schedule has yet to be confirmed but Copeland said it is likely the first two games of the best-of-three will be played in Saskatoon as four members of the Royals, including Estevan's Tyler Kendall, will already be in the area preparing for the Baseball Canada Cup, which is scheduled for Aug. 11-15 in Kindersley.
