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Semi-final series:
Aug 24. Ted Wills shutout Indian Head on just two hits and
struck out twelve as the Gems battered Sergio Fabre to win their
semi-final opener 6-0. Fabre, 10-0 during the regular season, went just three
innings as Saskatoon built up a 5-0 lead. Leopoldo Reyes had
three hits for the winners. Bob Bennett's triple was the only
extra base hit.
Fabre, Rodriguez (4) and Miranda; Wills
and Bennett
A five-run fifth inning carried the Beavers
to a 7-2 win over Rosetown in their opener. Chico O'Farrill's
first inning, two-run homer got the Beavers out front. Ed Kapp
held the Phillies to five hits. He fanned twelve. Felton Morrison
had a double and a homer for Rosetown.
Brown, Hill (5) and Henderson; Kapp and
Green
Aug 28. Percy Trimont drove in
two runs with a eighth inning double to give the Gems a 5-3 win over Indian
Head and a 2-0 lead in their semi-final series.
White and Johnson; Kirk and Bennett
Aug 29. Ted Wills lost a
no-hitter with two out in the bottom of the ninth as Saskatoon beat Indian
Head 3-0 in the first game of a playoff double-header. Tony
Iglesias poked a single up the middle to spoil Wills' no-hit bid.
Gems had 12 hits of Francisco Pilato, including a triple by Bob
Bennett and doubles by Percy Trimont and Jose Valladares.
Wills and Bennett; Pilato and Miranda,
Yzquierdo (5), Johnson (8)
Sergio Fabre was back in form holding
Saskatoon Gems to six hits in fashioning a 4-0 shutout for Indian Head. 5-thousand fans watched the action at Cairns Field.
MacEwen, Morrow (5) and Bennett; Fabre and
Johnson
At North Battleford, Ed Kapp won his
second game of the series as the Beavers won 4-3.
Coleman, Hill (6) and Henderson; Kapp and
Green
Aug 30. A seventh inning single by Percy
Trimont scored Jose Valladares with the only run as Saskatoon
shutout Indian Head 1-0. On the hill, Bennie Griggs held the
Rockets to just three hits. The win should have given the Gems the
semi-final series 4 games to 1, but the Rockets protested the game
contending third-base coach Reg Pendleton was ineligible to be in
uniform.
Griggs and Bennett; Arango, Rodriguez (9)
and Johnson
North Battleford pounded out sixteen hits to
take an 11-4 decision from Rosetown and a 3-0 game lead in their semi-final
series. Jesse Blackman had four hits and Curtis Tate
chipped in with three.
Holdaway, Stites (4) and Green; Bessicks, Brown (1)
and Henderson
Aug 31. Saskatoon won a berth in the
final with an 8-6 win over Indian Head. Gems won the best-of-seven
semi-final in five games. Don Kirk went six innings to get credit for the victory. Gems thought they had wrapped up the series the day
before when they beat the Rockets 1-0. However, the Rockets protested
the game as Reg Pendleton, a part-owner of the Saskatoon club, handled
the Gems' coaching duties. Pendleton was not properly registered with
the league. Gems had seven stolen bases in the game and engineered a
bases-loaded triple steal.
Rodriguez, Pilato (6), Arango
(9) and
Johnson; Kirk, Morrow (7) and Bennett
September 01. SBL president Buck
Crawford announced that Indian Head outfielder Mario
Penalver had been suspended for a year for taking a swing at umpire Ace
Corbin during
the Rockets' loss to Saskatoon.
September 01. The league's final series
would feature two familiar combatants -- North Battleford and Saskatoon final. The Beavers trounced Rosetown 11-4 to with the
semi-final series in four straight games. North Battleford got a first
inning homer from second baseman Art Stone and never looked back. Bill
Stites pitched into the sixth inning and picked up the victory.
Stites, Blackman (6) and Green; Hill,
Coleman (4) and Price
Final series:
September 02. There was a thrilling beginning to
the SBL championship series. Jesse Blackman's 13th inning
single plated Art Stone with the winner as the Beavers beat Saskatoon
5-4 in the opening game of the best-of-seven final.
Kapp, Holdaway (9) and Green; Wills and
Bennett
September 03. The Gems beat North
Battleford 3-2 behind a brilliant pitching performance from veteran Bennie Griggs. The right-hander gave up two hits and a run in the first
inning then pitched no-hit ball the rest of the way. Griggs finished
with 10 strikeouts and one walk. Gems scored the winning run in the eighth
on a Len Breckner double and a run-scoring single by Leopoldo
Reyes. North Battleford, however, protested the Saskatoon victory. In
was based on the presence of an unregistered played on the Saskatoon bench.
Holdaway, L Dean (4) and Green; Griggs and
Bennett
September 04. Curtis Tate and Roy
Dean had homers as the Beavers scored a 6-3 win in North
Battleford. Pitcher Jim Morrow and Mario Herrera had
homers for the Gems.
Morrow and Bennett; Stites and Green
September 05. North Battleford won the first
game of a playoff double-header 4-3 as four Saskatoon errors accounted for
all of the Beavers' runs. Ed Kapp pitched a six-hitter for the Beavers,
while Don
Kirk allowed just five hits in taking the loss for the Gems.
Kirk and Bennett, Trimont; Kapp and Green
September 05. Six-hit pitching by Ted
Wills led the Gems to a 4-3 win in the second game of the
twin-bill. Gems scored three times in the second inning off Beavers'
starter Les Dean. First baseman Len Breckner had three
hits for Saskatoon. Roy Dean of North Battleford had the only
homer.
Wills and Bennett; L Dean, Holdaway (2)
and Green
September 07. A crowd of more than
3,000 at Cairns Field saw the Gems force a deciding game in the
Saskatchewan Baseball League final series. Bennie Griggs allowed
five hits and eight walks but held on for a 2-1 win. Gems took the
lead in the second inning as catcher Bob Bennett drove in Jose
with a single to centre. They scored again in the fifth
as a double by Leopoldo Reyes easily scored Max Bentley.
The Beavers only run came on a sacrifice fly in the eighth.
Stites and Green; Griggs and Bennett
The Gems lost two star pitchers. Ted
Wills and Don Kirk both had to leave the club to return to
university studies -- Wills at Fresno State, Kirk at the University of
Alberta.
September 08. Saskatoon's 3-2 victory
in game two of the series was thrown out as the league upheld a protest by
North Battleford.
September 08. Jim Morrow had a
no-hitter into the eighth inning as he led Saskatoon to a 5-1 victory and
set up a deciding game in the SBL championship final. North Battleford
catcher Lou Green singled with two out in the eighth for the first
hit off Morrow. The right-hander fanned 10 and walked four. Leopoldo
Reyes had three hits for the winners.
Kapp and Green; Morrow and Bennett
September 09. The manager the Beavers
fired in July was the team's hero as North Battleford won the SBL title with
a 3-2 victory in the deciding game of the best-of-seven final. Jackie McLeod
allowed Saskatoon just seven hits and fanned 10 in going the distance.
Don Kirk, flown in from Edmonton for the game, was the loser.
McLeod had rejoined the team for the final three games of the series.
McLeod and Green; Kirk and Bennett
Saskatoon filed a protest over the use of
McLeod, but it was rejected by league officials. The Gems' general
manager, Ralph Mabee, threatened to leave the league: "They've
done everything they possibly could have done to prove they don't want us in
the league, so I wonder how far they will get without us next
year." He suggested the Gems might play elsewhere, "The
league has made it quite obvious that we should seek our baseball
elsewhere. This I intend doing when I attend the annual meeting of the
Mandak League in October."
The league president, Buck Crawford,
said he'd be turning in his resignation "They'll never get me in
another mess like this."
And with that, the 1954 season went into the
books.
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