Nerves may have got the best of the Lomak Bantam Knights, but they still walked away with a silver medal at the double-A provincial baseball championships last weekend in Burnaby.
The Knights lost 14-3 to their rival Aldergrove in the championship final of the 10-team tournament.
Prince George started strong in the first three innings of the final thanks to a solo home run blast by Cole Beacom in the second inning. The Knights hadn't made an error in the first five games of the tourney, but nerves allowed for a few errors which gave Aldergrove the lead.
Aldergrove stepped up to the plate with four home runs to account for eight of their runs, while Prince George couldn't capitalize on their hits, stranding several players on the bases.
Beacom and Matt Siemens were selected MVPs for the final.
Liam Campbell, who was the starting pitcher in the final, tossed five and two-thirds shutout innings to pound No. 2-ranked Cloverdale with an 8-1 win in the semifinal.
Campbell's performance, with only 43 pitches thrown, was backed by solid defence on the field.
Siemens, the Knights extra hitter, slapped a base-clearing double off the fence in the fourth inning to take the wind out out of Cloverdale's sails as part of a four RBI peformance.
Dustin Aldana was the closing pitcher to seal the win for Prince George, while Campbell earned game MVP.
The Knights posted a 3-1 record in round-robin play, securing wins against Surrey (7-0), White Rock (3-2) and Vernon (11-5).
Their only loss came against Aldergrove where they were edged 12-10 in the final round-robin game.
The two squads had faced each other numerous times during the season, with Prince George suffering a loss every time.
Prince George used four pitchers, starting with Scott Walters, followed by Michael Taylor in relief while Ajay Nickolet and Cole Gronski closed out the game.
During the back and forth game, the Knights infielders made stellar plays while their outfielders gunned down Aldergrove on the bases. Nickolet was named MVP for his plays at shortstop as well as his consistent showing at the plate.
Against Vernon in a must-win game, Cole Schwing belted a pair of home runs in his first two at-bats to give Prince George a five-run lead in the second inning. Schwing earned MVP status, while Cole Gronski started on the pitching mound. He was relieved by Beacom while Dustin Aldana closed out the game.
Schwing was on the pitching mound in a close 3-2 victory over White Rock where he went five and two-thirds innings allowing only two runs against the No. 2-ranked team in the province.
In the sixth inning, when White Rock had the bases loaded with only one out, Knights left-fielder Michael Taylor caught a fly ball deep in left field and managed to gun a White Rock runner down at home with a perfect throw to the plate. Taylor's play ended the inning and removed the threat.
Prince George shut White Rock out in the seventh inning and hung on for the win. Taylor was named game MVP.
In their first round-robin game, Campbell threw only 71 pitches in six innings of shut-out work in Prince George's 7-0 victory against Surrey. Quenten Astorino closed the game with only 12 pitches in the final inning.
Schwing earned game MVP honours for both his offensive performance with his bat and defensively behind the plate.
Other members of the Knights are second baseman Mikey Schwab and right fielder Grayson Wagner. They are coached by Shane Taylor, Connor Flynn and Rod Walters.
After the tournament, Schwing, Michael Taylor and Scott Walters were selected to represent Team B.C. at the Under-15 Pacific Northwest Championship in Centralia, Wash. Aug. 14 to 17.
