The Total Tops midget Knights of Prince George find themselves in a must-win situation today at the midget B provincial championship in Mission.
An 8-3 loss to Ladner Friday afternoon left the Knights with a 2-1 record, which could create a logjam of teams vying for a top-two pool placing needed to advance to Sunday's playoff round.
"We just didn't hit the ball well," said Knight manager Troy Waldie.
Tyrus Jocko took the loss, allowing five runs before he reached the 75-pitch limit and was replaced by Nicholas Potskin in the fourth inning with the Knights trailing 5-3. Myles Kazakoff's two-run home run in the fourth made it close, after Knights' Brendyn Jocko scored on a passed ball in the third inning.
In the late game Thursday night, Prince George made a miraculous comeback to defeat the Cloverdale Spurs 13-10. Knights starting pitcher Jackson Belanger struggled with his control and gave up four walks and the Spurs took advantage of four errors and four hits to build an 8-0 lead.
Kieran Leboe replaced Belanger with just one out in the first. Knights batters started making contact with the ball in the third inning. They scored two runs in the third and fourth innings and six in the fifth inning, including a two-run RBI single from Leboe which gave the Knights a 10-9 lead. They added three more in the sixth.
Potskin went 3-for-4 with three doubles and drove in two runs. Cole Waldie also had two RBI and scored twice.
"Kieran Leboe was our player of the game, he pitched great," said Waldie. "We were hitting solid, not trying to hit home runs, just singles and doubles, and it was pretty fun watching the guys run around the bases like that. The eight runs came early and it gave us time to pick away at that lead, which is what we did."
Belanger had trouble adjusting to the artificial turf-covered mound on the field in Mission. Just 15 of his 37 pitches found the strikezone.
"When he plants his front foot he slides a bit more and the turf is grabbing his cleat so he couldn't finish his throw-through and when he switched to a regular show he slipped too much," said Waldie. "It was a nightmare of a first inning, everybody scored against us, it was our worst inning of the year."
Following Saturday's games the teams will compete in a skills competition that includes an accuracy throw around the horn, a base race and a coolest coach contest involving water balloons.
The top two teams in each pool meet the second-place finisher from the opposite pool in semifinal playoffs Sunday at noon, followed by the final at 2:30 p.m. Ladner, Prince George, Aldergrove were off to 2-1 starts. The Knights are two-time defending champions and play their final round-robin game today 1 p.m. against Campbell River.
"We' still control our own destiny but I think it's a must-win for us against Campbell River," said coach Waldie. "They look like a pretty solid team, a lot of speed and very aggressive-looking. They look like they can hit pretty good."
