The Prince George IDL midget Knights hit the lights out in Mission.
The city's double-A travelling team tuned up for the provincial championships later this month with a tournament win over the weekend in Mission.
Prince George wrapped up the title Sunday with a 9-4 win over Mission in the championship game to finish the tournament with a 4-1 record. In five games, the Knights outscored their opponents 54-25.
Garrett Belanger pitched four innings of the final, taking over from starter Brandon Graham in the third inning. Belanger maxed out with his a pitch count at 105, and handed the ball to Jarrett Potskin, who got the last batter out in the seventh inning.
"It was a close game for quite awhile, actually," said Knights manager Randy Potskin.
"I think it was 3-3 into the sixth and they ran out of gas. We scored four runs in the bottom of the six and broke it open. It was just basehits, stealing and a couple of errors on their part -- no long balls."
The championship win came on the heels of the Knights' only loss on the weekend, a 9-6 defeat Saturday handed out by Mission.
The Knights opened Friday with a 15-3 win over Mission, followed by an 11-4 victory over the defending provincial-champion Ridge Meadows Royals. In that game, Jody Hannon of Prince George hit a walk-off grand slam, as the Knights ended the game by building a 10-run lead.
Prince George beat the Royals again on Saturday, by a 13-5 count.
"It was nice beating the defending champs," said Potskin. "Mission is the host team of provincials and we wanted to get the boys used to the surroundings there."
The other Knights players are: Calvin Todd, Lyndon Toews, Aaron Antonenko, Keefer Zohner, Reg Barry, Jordan Patterson, Tre Potskin, Jessie Knoop, Mark Mosure, Cole Laviolette and Jarrod Young.
Todd Patterson, Marcel Belanger and Tim Knoop are the Knights assistant coaches.
In their only other tournament action this season, a few weeks ago in Edmonton, the Knights finished third.
The Knights will return to Mission for the provincial championship tournament, July 28 to Aug. 1. At stake is a berth in the Western Canadian championship, Aug. 11-14 in Winnipeg. The Knights will play their league games in the Prince George Senior Baseball League and a few exhibition games in the leadup to the provincial tournament.
