Story by Dave Swinton with files from Christian J. Stewart
August 11, 2019, Whalley, BC – The Victoria Eagles capped off a club record setting regular season by defeating the North Delta Blue Jays 13-6 and winning the BC Junior Premier League title on Saturday in Whalley.
The Junior Premier Eagles set a club record with 33 regular season wins and went a perfect 5-0 in the playoffs to capture the Victoria Eagles first B.C. Junior Premier Baseball League Championship, adding that to the B.C. Premier League title the Eagles won in 2013.
After sweeping the Mid-Island Pirates in the first round of the playoffs, the Eagles entered the Final Five Championship as the number two seed. With convincing victories over the Langley Blaze (8-4) and the White Rock Tritons (9-5), the boys entered the final against the number one seed North Delta Blue Jays who would need to beat the Eagles twice to win the title.
Despite being the youngest team in the league, the Eagles made sure there would be no second game by pounding out 10 hits to comfortably beat the Blue Jays 13-6.
Leading the Eagle’s 10-hit attack in the final was Julian Cull who had a two-hit day, including a double, with three RBI and three runs scored. Ty Hall also had a double and scored twice, while Brandon LeBlanc added a triple and an RBI and scored twice.
On the mound, Connor Melanson got the win in relief of starter LeBlanc, giving up just two North Delta runs on five hits, while striking out two in his five full innings of work.
Many of these young Eagles will return to the team next season and will look to repeat as Provincial champions when the club hosts the 2020 final championship weekend in Victoria.
Martin Winstanley, President of the Victoria Eagles Baseball Club, explained, “This Championship is a milestone for the organization as it confirms that years of teaching our players to play the game the right way is paying off. Players can see that and want be part of the Eagles program. This Junior Premier team bought into Manager Dave Auger’s stress on fundamentals and the results are a title. Our core player group right now is as good as it has ever been and we look for both the Premier and Junior Premier Eagles to succeed on the field in 2020.”
More information on the Victoria Eagles Baseball Club can be found at www.victoriaeagles.com.
