The Prince George Knights are triple-A provincial baseball champions.
They made history on the diamond Sunday afternoon in Ridge Meadows with their come-from-behind 6-4 win over the Richmond City Chuckers in the B.C. Minor Baseball Association 18U final, becoming the first Prince George team ever to capture a triple-A provincial crown.
It certainly wasn’t easy.
Down 4-2 heading into the top of the seventh inning for their last at-bats, the smoldering Knights’ offence sparked to life. Parker McBurnie drew a walk and scored on an RBI triple from Preston Weightman. Jacob Ross’s sacrifice fly tied the game 4-4 and after Jacob Fillion and Luka Kim each got on base with walks, Dillon Neufeld delivered a base hit with one out that allowed Fillion and Kim to score the go-ahead runs.
In the bottom of the seventh, Ross struck out the first batter he faced, forced the next Richmond hitter to ground out, and ended it with another strikeout.
“At the start we were pretty slow off the bats but I think we all had the same goal from the start of the season and we all came together in the last inning and rallied back,” said Kim, the 18-year-old Knights catcher.
“I think everyone knew it was do or die at that point. We had to go, right there, and we did.”
McBurnie and Ross handled the pitching duties in the final, allowing only a few scattered hits. With James Yandeau out with a broken hand, the other eight pitchers on the Knights’ staff got the job done.
“The sticks were backing us up, but I think our pitching was far better than any other team’s,” said Kim. “Everyone that pitched this weekend did a great job.”
Head coach Jody Hannon has seen enough out of his players over the past few years while winning five-straight provincial tournaments to know they were capable of late-game heroics, even in the face of all the pressure that comes with having to mount a comeback in a championship game.
“Richmond came out and played a really strong game to start and the boys had a slow start for us but Parker McBurnie and Jacob Ross pitched excellent - I don’t think we gave up a hard-hit ball in that game,” said Hannon. “I’ll give it to Richmond, they put the ball in play and made us get outs.
“This is Prince George’s first triple-A crown and I couldn’t be more proud of the guys. They really bought into the program this year and at the end of the day everything went according to plan.”
The other Knights players are Riley Zummack, Kobe Fulton, Jarron Fillion, James Yandeau, Logan Dreher, Dillon Neufeld, Tyson Ramsay, Chase Martin, Zach Fillion and Brody LaFavor.
Cole Laviolette, Scott Walters and Tommy Kreitz are Hannon’s assistant coaches.
The Knights topped the Cloverdale Spurs 11-8 in semifinal playoff earlier Sunday. The Knights had a major malfunction in that game, blowing an 8-0 lead in the fourth inning.
Richmond advanced with a 6-5 semifinal win Sunday morning over the previously undefeated North Island Cubs.
On Saturday, the Knights saw their 21-game winning streak come to an end when they lost 6-4 to North Island in the final round-robin game at the five-team tournament. Hannon said that loss came at an opportune time and it did not derail their season-long ambitions.
“I think we were playing quite anxiously because of that win streak and that loss really humbled the boys to remind them that you’re going to lose games in baseball,” said Hannon. “We got that one out of the way at a good time and we came to play today and gutted out two big wins.”
The Knights started the tournament Friday with a 7-4 victory over Cloverdale, then went on to beat Richmond 2-1 later that day. Prince George also scored an 8-2 victory Saturday over the host Ridge Meadows Royals.
The Knights are done with tournament play this season and will return to the diamond at Citizen Field Monday night in the Prince George Senior Men’s Baseball League. The first-place Knights (7-1-0) face the second-place Queensway Auto World Mariners (6-3-1) at 9 p.m.
