Garrett Hawkins helped Team Saskatchewan get on the podium in Men's Baseball at the Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg, making him the first West Central athlete to win a gold medal so far this year.

Hawkins, a Biggar native, stands at 6 feet and 5 inches tall, and was mainly used as a pitcher throughout the tournament. Hawkins started in a key round robin game against Team Quebec and threw five strong innings to help get a 4-2 victory.

Team Saskatchewan was placed in the top tier pool in this year's Summer Games and played a double round robin against Alberta, Quebec and British Columbia. Interesting enough, Team Sask was able to beat all three teams in their pool once, as well as lose to every team in their pool the same amount. Standing at 3 wins and 3 losses after round robin, Team Saskatchewan found themselves in second place which booked them an automatic spot to the semi-finals.

In the semi-final match-up, Team Saskatchewan faced off against Team Ontario where the boys in the prairies got out in-front early and then used great pitching and excellent defense to propel themselves to a 7-0 win. The win would guarantee a spot on the podium, and a contest against Team Manitoba for the Gold Medal.

Team Manitoba went into the Gold Medal Game with a perfect record of 6 wins and 0 losses, and came off an incredible win against Team Alberta in a pitching duel that ended 1-0 in favor of the host province.

In the Gold Medal Game, Saskatchewan scored two runs early in the bottom of the third inning before Manitoba cut the lead in half to make it 2-1. Saskatchewan added another run in the bottom of the sixth inning to add some insurance before shutting the door in the top of the seventh.

Hawkins and Team Saskatchewan finished off the tournament with five wins and three losses, and played their best baseball when it truly mattered. Saskatchewan currently has won four gold medals at the Summer Games.