The PG Surg Med Knights ended it with a bang.
Trailing the Leduc Giants 9-3 Sunday morning, the Knights scored seven runs in the bottom of the seventh inning in a walk-off 10-9 victory which evened their record to 2-2 at the Western Canadian 18U midget double-A baseball championship in Strathmore, Alta.
But the Knights’ dream of repeating as Western Canadian champions ended with that victory. They needed to defeat the Giants by four runs to advance to the final and finished third in the five-team tournament.
The Giants, Knights and Unity Cardinals were all tied after the preliminary round with 2-2 records. The deciding factor to determine the other finalist was the number of runs each team allowed per defensive inning in head-to-head games against the other two tied teams.
The Giants played 12 defensive innings in their games against the Knights and Cardinals and allowed 10 runs for a 0.833 ratio. The Knights gave up 12 runs in 13 defensive innings against Leduc and Unity and were left with a 0.92 ratio. The Cardinals allowed 15 runs in 12 innings combined against Prince George and Leduc, which added up to a 1.25 ratio.
The Giants moved on to the final Sunday afternoon against the Altona Bisons (3-1), who beat them 4-3 for the championship.
The Knights opened Friday with a 3-1 loss to the Unity, the Saskatchewan champions. On Saturday they lost 2-1 to the Manitoba–champion Bisons. The Knights came back Saturday night to edge the Strathmore Reds 7-6.
Prince Georgequalified for the Western Canadian tournament after winning the Baseball BC provincial championship last weekend in Burnaby when they beat the host Braves 7-1 in the final.
The Knights also captured the BC Minor Baseball provincial crown, two weekends ago in Kelowna, when they defeated the Vancouver Canadians 9-4 in the championship game.
The Knights have four graduating players this season – Kaelon Gibbs, Richard French, Kolby Lukinchuk and Brady Pratt. They’ve played their final midget tournament but the Knights still have some baseball left.
They’ll begin the Century 21 Prince George Senior Men’s Baseball League playoffs Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Citizen Field when they face the Inland Control & Services Tigers.
The Knights finished second in the five-team league with a 9-11 record, equal to that of the third-place Tigers. The winner of the Knights-Tigers game will play the first-place (16-4) Queensway Auto World Mariners Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
In the other playoff matchup Tuesday at 9 p.m., the (8-12) fourth-place JRJ Construction Orioles face the (8-12) fifth-place D.O.B. Contracting Gladiators.
