Number-crunching squashed the chances of the Lomak Knights.
The local peewee all-stars missed the playoffs at the 16-team John Main Classic baseball tournament in North Delta based on mathematics. After round-robin play, Abbotsford, the Knights and Duncan were all tied with 2-1 records. After the runs against/defensive innings tiebreaker was applied, Abbotsford finished 0.1 ahead of the Knights and nabbed the lone playoff berth.
The Knights, formed by 11- and 12-year-olds, played their last game Saturday night and left the diamond as 10-9 winners against Abbotsford. Earlier Saturday, the P.G. boys downed North Delta 5-3. The Knights started the tournament with a 9-8 Friday loss to Duncan.
Dustin Aldana was the winning pitcher against Abbotsford and Cole Beacom picked up the victory against North Delta. Ryan Hampe took the loss against Duncan.
Players of the game for Prince George were Zach Swanson (versus Abbotsford), Beacom (versus North Delta) and Michael Schwab (versus Duncan).
Considering the quality of the competition at the Classic, Knights coach Jim Swanson praised the team for its overall performance.
"These young players played like young men, very mature and they never quit on anything all weekend," he said. "We scored most of our runs with two outs -- clutch, character at-bats. Prince George and our youth baseball association can be very proud. This is a special group of baseball players."
The Knights will now start preparing for tournaments in Kamloops and Kelowna in July. In August, they'll be in Chilliwack for provincials.
