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Winnipeg Free Press
06-08-2025
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
Desperate Goldeyes get hot as season hits homestretch
A sentiment Winnipeg Goldeyes manager Logan Watkins has echoed all season is hitting is the key to winning — something the team has been hot and cold with all year, often slumping throughout the lineup at the same time. Luckily, the Goldeyes have found their hitting groove in August, winning four much-needed games in a row on the road, before dropping a close 5-4 game Tuesday evening against the Sioux Falls Canaries. Although the club still sits 11 games behind the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks, who are 8-2 in their last ten and hold a strong grip on the final West Division playoff spot, all the Fish can focus on is their own play. Right now, it's the best it's been all season, fuelling the longest win streak of the year. BROOK JONES / FREE PRESS Outfielder Max Murphy hit his 100th career home run as a Goldeye on Saturday. The Goldeyes opened the month with a dominant 9-0 shutout win, arguably, the best series of the season with the Milwaukee Milkmen — a team in a similarly desperate spot, chasing the playoff line over in the East Division. It was the Fish who wanted it more, playing a complete game with their top players stepping up offensively. Max Murphy and Jacob Robson each tallied two hits and two runs, while Matthew Warkentin drove in three runs, adding two hits and a run of his own. Pitching was a group effort, with six Goldeyes contributing on the mound. Weston Lombard earned the win, his first as a Goldeye, in the team's second shutout of the season. Game two was another game with not much to complain about in a 7-1 victory. Winnipeg got on the board early, putting up four runs in the first inning, helped by Max Murphy's 100th home run as a Goldeye. Murphy broke the franchise's all-time home run record in June, and getting the veteran right fielder hot will be important for the Fish in the final stretch of the season. James Bradwell, another pitcher earning his first win as a Goldeye for the second game in a row, allowed five hits and one run while striking out three on the way to the win. A less offence-driven but still vital 3-0 win earned the Goldeyes a sweep in the final game of the series, their first of the season on Sunday afternoon. Pitcher Luke Boyd threw eight innings, allowing six hits but keeping the Milkmen off the scoreboard for the shutout, while Ryder Yakel closed out the ninth. The Goldeyes allowed just one run throughout the series. Moving on to a division opponent, the Goldeyes' bats stayed hot in Game 1 against the Sioux Falls Canaries on Monday, powering a 13-4 victory. The game was close early, with the Fish leading 5-4 in the third inning, before they blew it wide open in the fourth. Murphy led the charge with a team-high four RBI on the night. Pitcher Zan Rose, who hasn't allowed a run in his last three relief appearances, picked up the win. Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. In a much closer game two, the Goldeyes' win streak came to an end in what was their 21st one-run loss of the season, after the Canaries broke a 4-4 tie with a run in the bottom of the ninth. The Goldeyes continue their four-game series against the Canaries today, closing it out Thursday. The club will then look to capitalize against the last-place Lincoln Saltdogs when they return home to Blue Cross Park on Friday. After Lincoln, six series remain for the Fish, including a final showdown with the RedHawks from Aug. 26-28, which could be pivotal in the race for the final playoff spot.
Winnipeg Free Press
11-07-2025
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
Canadian content fuelling Fish
It's very fitting that the Winnipeg Goldeyes take the field in red and white. This year's lineup features seven Canadians which is the most the Fish have ever boasted in their 30-plus years of existence. They're not just here to fill out the roster. 'It is a coincidence,' said Goldeyes manager Logan Watkins, as he doesn't go out of his way to seek them out. 'But I'd say three or four of them are maybe our best players.' BROOK JONES / FREE PRESS Winnipeg Goldeyes first baseman Matthew Warkentin's 11 home runs lead the team this season. One of the top Canucks is first baseman Matthew Warkentin, a Leamington, Ont., product who was recently named the American Association's Batter of the Week for having 13 hits, including five doubles, two home runs, and eight runs batted in, during a six-game stretch. The others from The Great White North include pitchers Ben Onyshko (Winnipeg), Landen Bourassa (Lethbridge, Alta.,), Landon Leach (Toronto), Will Sierra (Montreal), James Bradwell (North Vancouver), and outfielder Jacob Robson (London, Ont.,). 'It's awesome. I haven't played with too many Canadians in pro ball, and definitely not six others at once,' said Warkentin, 28, before the Goldeyes lost 12-7 to the Sioux Falls Canaries Thursday night. 'We all have different stories, but I think everybody from Canada gets what it takes to come out of Canada to play professional baseball so it's pretty cool that we got seven of us like that.' Warkentin, who towers over the average ball player at 6-6, headed into Thursday as the team leader in home runs (11) and was second in batting average (.290) and RBI (37). The first-year Goldeye made his way to Winnipeg after a pro club in Mexico released him in April. With not much time to latch on with another team, the Manitoba capital was an easy fit as he wouldn't have to scramble to secure a work visa. After finishing his college career at Xavier, playing two seasons of affiliated ball under the Chicago Cubs, and then appearing in the Pioneer and Frontier leagues, Warkentin is finally once again swinging a bat on home soil. Having maple syrup in his diet again has served him well as it was announced Wednesday that Warkentin was selected to the West Division all-star team. Outfielder Max Murphy and pitchers Tasker Strobel and Ryder Yakel were the other Fish to get the call. 'I think I was a bit sour at first getting released in Mexico because I thought I did enough to stay and I really wanted that opportunity, but everything here has been great… The organization as a whole is really professional and helpful,' said Warkentin. He also finally has some teammates that can relate to the misery of being a Toronto Maple Leafs fan. 'There was definitely some Leafs jokes during the playoffs. We got a couple guys from Florida who jumped on the Panthers bandwagon during the Stanley Cup, and then we'd ask them to name a few players, and they didn't know anybody,' laughed Warkentin. If you want to be generous, you could add the two Canadians in training to the list with Murphy and left-handed starter Mitchell Lambson now residing in Winnipeg after meeting their partners here. Lambson, a Montclair, Calif., native, might end up a late addition to the all-star crew as the Goldeyes nominated him for the final spot in the West which is decided by a fan vote. Lambson, the AA's Pitcher of the Year in 2019, signed on with the Fish in their championship-winning 2017 season and is now in his sixth campaign with the club after rejoining them late in 2024. 'I was just coming up here with really no idea what to expect, it was my first year in indy ball and I just got released,' said Lambson, who spent three years in the Milwaukee Brewers system. 'I was just seeing where my life was going to take me, where my career was going to take me at that point. Now, here I am still, and it's been awesome. I love being here in Winnipeg, and it's home now.' Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. Lambson, 34, still has one of the best arms in the league. He's 6-1 and leads all pitchers in innings pitched (73.1) and complete games (three). The trusty southpaw — who plans on coaching up the local scene when he hangs up the cleats in a few years — tossed 10 innings last Sunday in a 2-1 road loss to the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks. 'He does it in a little bit of an unothodox way,' said Onyshko, who entered Thursday with a 2.65 ERA and 14 strikeouts in 19 appearances out of the bullpen. 'He's not an absolute fireballer, so it's really cool to watch him take the ball every fifth day because you know he's pulling out everything he's got to get through the lineup and he manages to get through the lineup four or five times every time he takes the ball which is super impressive.' The Goldeyes (25-29) host the Kansas City Monarchs (33-21) for a four-game series this weekend that kicks off Friday with a doubleheader starting at 5:30 p.m. The two sides will pick up from the third inning of their June 8 game that was suspended due to rain. They'll take a short break before playing a seven-inning Game 2. Taylor AllenReporter Taylor Allen is a sports reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. Taylor was the Vince Leah intern in the Free Press newsroom twice while earning his joint communications degree/diploma at the University of Winnipeg and Red River College Polytechnic. He signed on full-time in 2019 and mainly covers the Blue Bombers, curling, and basketball. Read more about Taylor. Every piece of reporting Taylor produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
