Coquitlam claims first-ever B.C. senior baseball title

Darren Honeysette swung his bat, saw the ball dropping into right field near foul territory and took off running.

He rounded third base just as the throw from the field got through Burnaby Bulldogs catcher Sean Hotzak and there was no stopping the Coquitlam Angels hitter.  

Honeysette beat the tag at home to complete his inside-the-park round-tripper, following on the heels for three of his teammates. His grand slam effort in the third inning gave the Angels a four-run lead and they went on to make history with their 8-7 win over the Burnaby Bulldogs at Citizen Field Monday afternoon, claiming their first-ever B.C. senior provincial baseball crown.

Jordan Varga followed up Honeysette's hit with a solo home run and that was just enough offence to put Coquitlam over the top as provincial champs for the first time since the trophy was first awarded in 1978.

"It was chaos, I hadn't been swinging too well and luckily launched it and it just landed fair and I just took off and saw the arm (of first base coach Kevin Powell) waving and booked it for home," said the 23-year-old Honeysette. "I saw it pass by and my eyes were on the play so I just laid out and everybody was there and jumped on me."

Shawn Schaefer, Coquitlam's exquisite lefthander, was a weekend workhorse, pitching in three games in three days. Still reeling after three straight losses to start the tournament, Schaefer pitched the Angels out of their slump with a complete-game 7-1 playoff win over the Prince George Grays Sunday night.

He also delivered a couple hits in the Angels' 12-11 semifinal win over the Kamloops Sun Devils earlier Monday.

When Angels starter Shawn Heatherington began to falter in the fourth inning in the final, allowing Jordan Padrinao's three-run blast, Schaefer came in from his defensive position at centre field and took over the ball to throw the final three innings.

He mowed down the Bulldogs in order in the fifth, gave up one single in the sixth, then survived a couple of dicey moments in the bottom of the seventh to complete the save. Ahead in the count against almost everybody he faced, Schaefer was nursing the one-run lead when Padrinao started the seventh with a hit to left field and was replaced by pinch runner Justin Orton. With one out, Schaefer walked Jeff Bouchard and that brought designated hitter Tyler Yorko to the plate. Yorko hit a flare that dropped out of the glove of second baseman Nic Lindsey as Orton arrived at third with the potential tying run. Bouchard got to second base late, anticipating the catch, and was gunned down and the game ended when Bulldogs' heavy-hitter Scott Webster hit a grounder back to Schaefer, who got him with the toss to first base.

"I've never seen that before, an inside-the-park grand slam with an error, that was amazing," said the 31-year-old Schaefer, the tournament MVP.

"We started off pretty slow but we got our feet under us and starting really hitting the ball. At the end of the tournament our pitching staff did a good job of getting outs and we played really well defensively the last three games."

The Bulldogs and Angels met the previous two years in the final. Burnaby had won the title six times in the previous 15 years.

"We struggled all season getting guys out to play, they're getting older, they've got to work, but everybody showed up here and they did the job and what more can you ask of these guys," said Angels manager Dan Ferguson. "It was pretty scary."

Burnaby beat Coquitlam in a tough five-game series last weekend to win the Lower Mainland playoff title. The Bulldogs knew they were in tough when Schaefer took over the game to try to close it out.

"We see him a lot and we know what to expect, he's always got good stuff and he's always there in the big games," said Bulldogs shortstop Kyle McComb.  "They started playing baseball at the right time and got on a streak and everybody was hitting and we ran into them at the wrong time. It was a close game that could have gone either way."

Angels right fielder Grant Malm batted .600 with nine runs batted in as the tournament's top batter. Curtis Sawchuk of the Grays won the top pitcher award on the strength of his 2-0 two-hit gem he pitched against the Angels on Saturday.