The Prince George Lomak midget Knights knew they were in a must-win situation Friday night at the BC Baseball double-A provincial championship.
The Knights had to beat the Newton Giants to have any chance at playing in Sunday's final and did they ever, spanking the Giants 13-3 in front of a home crowd at Citizen Field.
Matt Knight pitched the victory, allowing just seven hits and two runs before handing the ball to Brandon Hanson.
The Knights were led offensively by Michael Schwab, who went 3-for-4 with two RBI. His two-run double in the fifth inning gave the Knights some breathing room when the Giants started chipping away at the Prince George lead.
Michael Taylor also had a good night at the plate collected two hits and knocking in one run as the Knights improved their tournament record to 2-1.
"It felt really good to come out and show what we could do and show who we are," said Taylor. "It's always hard to come out and see a new pitcher for the first time but we did good near then end there. I felt good but it doesn't take just one guy to win a game so I'm glad everybody's hitting the ball, coming in clutch with big hits. Tonight we came out and we didn't have the nerves we did last night (in a 7-3 loss to Campbell River) and we were able to do the job.
"We're playing P.G. Knights baseball now, we're ready to go."
The Giants got to the pitcher Knight early in the first inning, but some great fielding by his teammates limited the damage to one run. Will Smith doubled in leadoff hitter Ben McGonigal and when Smith tried to stretch it into a triple he was gunned down by Taylor's long throw from right field. Bradley Waddell took his turn at bat and swatted one deep. The ball landed at the feet of centerfielder Scott Walters, who made a perfect toss to third baseman Joesph JenVenne for the third out.
The Giants' defence bailed them out of a jam in the bottom of the first. Taylor pounded a Morgan Berkmann pitch off the centrefield wall for a double, which brought Scott Walters to the plate. Walters connected with a hard liner which was caught by third baseman Shimpachi Meta, who whipped the ball to second base to double up Walters.
The Knights got on the scoreboard in the second inning. Cole Schwing and Knight both walked and Craig Budskin hit a shallow fly to second baseman Bailey Sandhu. Sandhu tied to get Budskin at first but missed with his toss, allowing Schwing to score.
The Knights took a 3-1 lead in the fourth.
Walters singled and got to second on a Berkmann balk and Schwing's basehit to right field was deep enough to score Walters, who just got under the tag from catcher Will Smith. Budskin's liner to second base allowed Knight to come home with the second run of the inning.
The Giants, looking for their first win of the tournament, fired back with one run in the fifth inning. They loaded the bases on Knight with just one out and Connor Werk's flyout scored Diego Carrera. The relay from the field got behind the catcher Schwing and Knight was there to throw it back in time to strand Carrera but Schwing dropped the ball.
In their half of the inning, the Knights scored three runs to go up 6-2. Dustin Aldana hit a grounder that Werk bobbled a bit at shortstop and Ajay Nickolet followed up with his first hit of the tournament. He executed the hit-and-run play perfectly, noticing a big gap between first and second to make an adjustment with his bat to place the ball smartly into the hole.
Schwab, the Knights' leadoff hitter, brought them both home with a double. Taylor's flyout with nobody out scored Schwab.
The Knights put seven more run up in the sixth inning. Walters cleaned up the bases with two runners on board to enact the 10-run deficit mercy rule.
"We've got something to play for now, the kids dug deep and took to heart the inspirational stuff that we talked about before the game," said Knights manager Shane Taylor. "I think there's going to be a different team you see for the rest of the tournament."
Bergmann, the only female player in the 10-team tournament, went to distance on the mound for the Giants. She gave up 13 runs on 13 hits while her team made four errors.
"Prince George has always been a tough team and we held our own for most of the game there," said the 17-year-old Bergmann, who also catches for the Giants.
"I can't even be upset that we lost, we played well. Hats off to them, they're great hitters and all I could do was throw strikes and hope for the best. I think my defence backed me up pretty well until the last half of the game when they scored some runs."
The Knights will face the Mission Twins tonight at 8:30 in their final round-robin game. The Twins defeated Newton 14-12 earlier Friday to improve to 1-1.
Other results Friday were as follows: Vancouver 4 White Rock 3; Ladner 13 Campbell River 2; Tsawwassen 15 Kamloops 1. In the late game, the Vancouver Expos beat the Ridge Meadows Royals 10-5 at Rotary Field.
Tsawwassen is off to 3-0 start and there are four teams (Prince George, Ladner,Ridge Meadows and Vancouver) sporting 2-1 records heading into today's final round-robin games.
Sunday's semifinals will be played at 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m., and the final is set for 4 p.m. Sunday, all at Citizen Field.
