Story and Photos by Christian J. Stewart
April 29, 2018, Victoria, BC – The White Rock Tritons and Victoria Eagles both used double-header sweeps on Sunday to keep pace with the Coquitlam Reds in the early season battle for first place in the British Columbia Junior Premier Baseball League.
The Tritons, who also defeated the Eagles 3-1 a day earlier, on a rainy Saturday, made it a clean sweep of the entire weekend, as they came away with 8-5 and 3-2 wins over the Victoria Mariners at Henderson Park in Victoria on Sunday, improving their record to 9-2 and moving to within a game and a-half of the red hot, first-place Reds, who defeated Okanagan 9-7 and 9-6 Sunday to improve their record to 11-1.
Across town at Lambrick Park, the Eagles improved their record to 6-3 with 5-1 and 7-4 wins over the North Delta Blue Jays. The win keeps the Eagles in third place, just 3.5 games back of Coquitlam and in a virtual tie with the North Shore Twins who also sit 3.5 back, but have a number of game in hand, having only played three games so far this season.
In game one action at Henderson Park, the Mariners and Tritons had a see-saw battle going through five innings of play, with the Mariners having held 2-0, 3-2 and 4-3 leads, but the Tritons exploded for a pair of runs in the sixth, courtesy of a two-RBI single from Josh Fluet and three more in the seventh, to put the game out of reach.
Fluet would finish the day, with two hits, two walks and a run scored to lead the Tritons offence, while Kole Turner would also contribute two hits and two RBIs to the win.
On the hill, Darius Opdam Bak would get the win in relief of starter Jason Blouin who would go five innings, allowing four runs on three hits, striking out three and walking just two.
For the Mariners, Makhail Bondoreff led the way with a pair of hits including a double, while Daniel Sawchyn added a single and a pair of runs scored in the losing effort.
Joel Gagnon would take the loss in relief of starter Kai Gelling, who went 5.2 innings, allowing five runs on six Triton hits, while striking out three and walking four.
In game two Sunday, the Tritons jumped out to a 3-0 lead after three and then held on to come away with a 3-2 win.
A Logan MacNeil sacrifice fly and an RBI double from Andy Lee got the Tritons on the board in the second, while Kole Turner would walk and eventually score on an error in the third to give the Tritons what would end up being their winning run.
Nathan Glenn and Owen Snyder would score for the Mariners in the sixth to make it close, but White Rock relievers Alec McDonald and Josh Fluet would get the Tritons through the seventh unscathed to preserve the win.
Brendan Patterson would get the win, going 5.2 innings and allowing both Mariner runs on four hits, while striking out six and walking just two. Fluet earns the save, while Mariner starter Dawson Harrison takes the loss, going just three innings and giving up the three White Rock runs on one hit and four walks.
The Eagle’s Noah Takacs would throw a complete game five-hitter and add two hits and three RBI to give the Eagles a 5-1 win in game one Sunday (Photo: Christian J. Stewart)Over at Lambrick Park, Noah Takacs would be the game one hero, pitching a complete game, five-hitter, while also getting a pair of hits, including a double and three RBIs, to lead the Eagles to a 5-1 win over North Delta.
Quinton Horvath would also add an RBI-double for the Eagles, while Dylan Brown would chip in a pair of hits to the winning cause.
The Eagles would score all their runs early, getting to North Delta starter Nico Bleha for three in the second and two in the third en route to the win. Matteo Lesjak would finish with three scoreless relief innings for the Jays.
In game two action, the Blue Jays took a 2-0 lead into the fifth inning, but then watched as the Eagles offence came alive to score four runs in the fifth and another three runs in the sixth to cruise to the win.
Eagles newcomer Santiago Vazquez had the big blow in the four-run fifth, scoring Noah Takacs and James McGhie with a two-RBI single, while Carson Hamilton and McGhie added RBI-singles in the sixth to increase the Eagles’ lead.
Dylan Brown got the start for the Eagles and he was solid, allowing two Blue Jays runs on six hits over six innings of work. Vazquez and McGhie closed out the win in the seventh.
For North Delta, Lucas MacLellan and Cole Morgan had a pair of hits each in the losing effort. Starter Declan Forbes takes the loss, giving up four runs on three hits, while walking four and striking out three in 4.2 innings of work.
Additional photos by Christian J. Stewart from the Mariners and Tritons games can be found at: http://christianjstewart.zenfolio.com/p439586977
Additonal photos by Christian J Stewart from the Eagles and Blue Jays games can be found at: http://christianjstewart.zenfolio.com/p504103212
