ROYALS WIN 8 OUT OF THEIR LAST 10 GAMES

After sweeping the double header against the Ontario Blue Jays the Royals continued to impress by taking 3 out 4 from the Niagara Rebels and another 3 out 4 from the Ottawa Canadians. Despite a depleted line up due to injuries in particular to the pitching staff where Kyle Flemington and D.J. Bernard have not played a game this year and Arsene Pinguelo has not been able to pitch since the end of May the Royals showed plenty of character and will now head south for their annual USA tournament schedule having won 8 out of their final 10 games.
In their last eight games the Royals were lead offensively by Jahmal Brooks, Jordan Grant, Kyle Westwater and Dolan Dunigan. First baseman Jahmal Brooks hit .364 with an on base percentage of .548, one home run and 9 runs batted in. Short stop Jordan Grant chipped in with 5 singles and two doubles while walking 11 times for an OBP of .545. Grant also seemed to be able to steal bases at will doing it 8 times in the last eight games. Kyle Westwater seems to be rounding into hitting form going 5 for 15 with 3 walks. Dolan Dunigan, who has taken over the center field position after the departure of Dalton Pompey, has done an excellent job defensibly and in the past 3 weeks has turned into one of the most dangerous offensive player on the team with his speed and discipline at the plate. During the last eight games Dunigan had an on base percentage of .500 and used his speed to steal 4 bases. Other notables were catcher Edward Largy who pitch in with a home run and six singles while catching all 8 games, third baseman Jonathan Del Pozo who continues to hit well adding 7 singles to his totals and Mitchell Mattarollo with 4 singles and a double.
The pitching staff was lead by Chris Ruediger, Mike Vanderlaan and Phillip Hinton. Chris Ruediger was excellent winning 3 games. Opposition batters batted .187 and could only manage 2 earned runs in 13 innings against the right hander. Ruediger striked out 10 batters while walking only 4. Lefty Mike Vanderlaan continued to dominate winning both of his complete game starts and saving a third game. In the 15 1/3 innings pitched, the lefty allowed 2 earned runs while striking out 11 and keeping the opposition to a .137 batting average. Phillip Hinton won the other game and continued to dominate opposition batters allowing only 3 runs in 13 innings while striking out 10 and walking 7.
The Royals will leave on June 30th to the USA where they will play in West Virginia, Ohio and Illinois starting July 1st.