Story and Photos by Christian J. Stewart
July 20, 2021, Victoria, BC – Riley Waters pitched a complete-game three-hitter, Damien Cataldo hit a solo home run and Jack Valikoski added three hits and three RBIs to lead the Victoria Eagles to a 12-2 win over the Victoria Mariners in BC Premier Baseball League Bantam action Tuesday night at Carnarvon Park in Victoria.
The Eagles never trailed in the game, building a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning, thanks in part to an RBI double by Max Rudnyckyj and a two-RBI single from Sullivan Humeniuk.
They would add two more in the bottom of the third, as Cataldo would get his first of three hits to lead off the inning and then come in to score on a Valikoski single. After a Lukas LeGras single, Callahan Cowan would then stroke a two-out double to score Valikoski and increase the lead to 5-0.
Waters, who was near perfect through the first three innings, surrendering only a hit batter in the first, found his only trouble in the top of the fourth inning, when he gave up a leadoff single to Spencer Gordan and then Jonah Chang reached on an error. They would eventually come in to score on RBIs from the Mariners London Dingwell (double) and Carson Barwell (ground out), making the score 5-2.
(Photo: Christian J. Stewart)
Waters would give up only a sixth inning single after that to the Mariners Reid Clague and when the Eagles would score four more runs in the fifth, highlighted by Cataldo’s solo home run to lead thigs off, and three more in the sixth, it closed out the game and gave Waters, who finished with seven strikeouts and no walks, the abbreviated 12-2 mercy-rule victory.
Cataldo would finish with three hits on the night, including his homer and a double, while Valkoski would have three hits, including a double, and three RBIs to lead the Eagles 15-hit attack. Max Rudnyckyj, Lukas LeGras and Callahan Cowan, would also chip in multi-hit games, while Ryan Day and Cataldo, each scored three times.
Mariners starting pitcher Kaelan Hayashi took the loss, going just two innings and giving up three runs on three hits, while walking four. Hudson Closson and Zephyr Cowan saw relief work on the mound.
With the win the Eagles improve their overall record to 9-5 and their record against the Mariners this season to 5-3. The Mariners drop to 6-8 overall.
Both teams will go at it against each other again on Wednesday night at Carnarvon Park. Game time is 6:30 pm.
The full set of images from this game are available for viewing and/or purchase at https://christianjstewart.zenfolio.com/p210571684
