Wet weather was no barrier to success on the diamond for the Prince George peewee Knights baseball team.
The Knights sent 31 players, enough for two teams, and they combined to kick off the 2013 season by winning three of four games at a weekend tournament in Chilliwack.
P.G. Blue defeated a pair of Chilliwack city teams on Saturday. Backed by the pitching of Braeden Wheeler and his timely double late in the game, the Knights pounded out an 8-6 victory. They followed that with a 16-4 win, with Brady Pratt earning the win on the mound.
Meanwhile, Ajay Nickolet of Mackenzie was a clutch hitter with a two-run RBI and also pitched the win in a 9-3 decision over the North Delta Angels. In the game that followed, the Knights gave up two unearned runs in the bottom of the seventh that helped the Chilliwack Cougars to a 4-3 win.
Sunday's scheduled games for the Knights against Chilliwack and Aldergrove were rained out and the team ended up playing an intrasquad game instead.
Other Knights players who made the trip to Chilliwack included: Jayan Nickolet, Brett Mero, Ryan Hampe, Quinten Astorino, Michael Schwab, Seth Lapre, Brevin Gervais, Zach Swanson, Liam Campbell, Tommy Kreitz, Ryan Bachand, Joseph JenVenne, Soren Erricson, Matt Siemens, Raymond Prive, Mitchell Lukoni, Braeden Wheeler, Kolby Lukinchuk, Kaelon Gibbs, Nicholas Husband, Dallas Werbecky, Richard French, Nolan Minck, Josh Fielding, John Meyer, Kyle Bachand, Zach Schwab and Holden Black.
Next on the schedule for the Knights is a tournament in West Kelowna, May 3-5. They're booked to play in a Vernon tournament, May 18-20, and will travel to Burnaby for the John Main Classic, May 24-26. Twelve Knights will form the team that will host the triple-A provincial championship, Aug. 8-11 at Spruce City Stadium.
There are enough players of sufficient quality in the peewee age group (11- and 12-year-olds) to also send Prince George teams to compete at the single-A provincials in Surrey and the double-A B.C. provincial playoffs in Comox.
