The PG Surg Med midget Knights are chasing their third-straight B.C. Amateur Baseball Association 18U provincial championship this weekend in Mission and so far, so good.
They improved to 2-0 Friday with a 13-0 win in five innings over the Kamloops River Dogs.
The Knights took off in the first inning and built a 7-0 lead. Derian Potskin got them started with a three-run home run, batting fourth in the order. It was the second fence-hopper of the tournament for Potskin.
"They struggled hitting the (strike) zone initially because the guy they wanted to start was throwing up before the game," said Knights assistant coach Dylan Lukinchuk. "They threw what they had and we put up a seven-spot."
Prince George sent 12 batters to the plate in the first inning but failed to score a run in the next two innings. Knights pitcher Liam Campbell was on top of his game, holding the River Dogs to just one hit through four innings.
"He had four strikeouts in the first two innings - he did not throw a lot of pitches but he did a lot of damage," said Lukinchuk.
Prince George got one more run across in the fourth and five more in the fifth.
"It was our bottom five who put up our runs in that last inning," said Lukinchuk. "We had a double from Ryan Hampe, a couple walks, an RBI single from Brady Pratt, a two-RBI single from Hunter Fanshaw and an RBI single from A.J. Nickolet."
Kaelon Gibbs came in as the closer in the fifth inning.
Prince George opened Thursday with a 12-6 win over Ridge Meadows.
The Knights, who were ranked seventh out of 10, play the Vancouver Expos today at 10 a.m., then take on their provincial rivals, the Ladner Red Sox (2-0), to wrap up the round-robin later in the day. Prince George defeated Ladner the past two years in the provincial final and beat them in the final this year at a tournament in Newton.
"We came in ranked seventh because we don't play in the league with these guys but I guess the word's gotten out about us because the last game we had four different teams with coaches or players watching us," said Lukinchuk.
The LTN Contracting bantam Knights are a perfect 4-0 heading into the playoff round today at the double-A 15U provincial championship in Burnaby.
The Knights will play Tri-Cities in the semifinal round today at noon. Surrey (4-0) won the other pool.
Prince George pasted the Cloverdale Spurs 14-4 in the morning game Friday but had their hands full with the Burnaby Braves in an afternoon encounter to decide first place in the pool, winning 14-12. The Braves scored four runs in the seventh and had the tying run at second base and the winning run on first with two out when Jacob Ross came off the bench to deliver the final out, striking out the Burnaby batter with just four pitches.
"They kept fighting and it was a tight one," said Knights head coach Curtis Sawchuk. "We've really cleaned up and played well defensively and the first three games I don't think we made an error. But then we had a couple (Friday) in key situations with bases loaded and that's how they got their runs.
"We've been minimizing (errors) ever since we got more time on the field. All those games at B.C. Summer Games we just got a little more reps and the boys have cleaned it up really well. We're a step ahead of a lot of these teams here because we brought up our level to compete at Summer Games."
Chase Martin had two hits, Zach Fillion had a three-run home run in the third inning, his second of the tournament.
"It's been a team effort, 1 through 9, and we're playing a real good team game right now," said Sawchuk. "It was good to have some adversity because the other games have kind of been easy for us. Going into semifinals, now we know what to do in those intense situations."
In the Cloverdale game, Grady Goyer made a glaring error at first base early in the game but was deadly all game at the plate and won player-of-the-game honours. Fillion pitched the win and Adam Hart picked up the save.
At 11U triple-A provincials in Chilliwack, the Prince George Folklore Contracting Knights started the 10-team tournament with a 13-13 tie with the host Chilliwack Cougars, then lost their evening game 15-5 to the Cloverdale Spurs.
Brody Wood was the player of the game for Prince George in the Chilliwack game. He went 3-for-3, part of a 20-hit attack for the Knights.
Prince George scored two runs in the sixth inning to take a 13-12 lead but the Cougars came back with one in the bottom half of the inning to tie it. The teams reached the two-hour time limit and were unable to break the tie after seven complete innings.
"It was hitter's battle, there weren't even a lot of errors," said Prince George head coach Derek Wood.
Dawson Ernst started the game on the mound for the Knights and got them into the fourth inning before he maxed out his pitch count at 75. Hunter Henry and Lucas Peacock also pitched.
The Knights came into the tournament having played just eight games at the triple-A level, facing teams that have 30 or more games under their belts.
Cloverdale built an 8-0 lead through two innings, getting to starter Gavin Paterson early. The mercy rule kicked in after the fifth inning but Wood said his team left the diamond with the right attitude, ready to wipe the slate clean when they get back to the park today. Prince George (1-1) will face Victoria today at 1 p.m., then will play Abbotsford at 6 p.m.
"We pretty much have to win the next two games to move on," said Wood.
At the 13U peewee double-A provincials in Vernon, the Prince George Finning Knights fell to 0-4 Friday, losing 8-4 to Victoria. Like they did in three of the four games, the Knights had a lead but lost it late in the game. Victoria went ahead in the fifth and added three more runs in the seventh.
In the morning game against Tri-Cities, the Knights led 8-4 heading into the sixth inning but lost 10-8.
On Thursday they ran into a tough White Rock team and that ended in a 14-2 defeat. The Knights opened with a 7-6 loss Wednesday to top-seeded Abbotsford. Caleb Poitrous held the Knights in that one with brilliant pitching performance and had the lead when he came out of the game.
"We were up 6-0 for three or four innings, and were up 6-2 going into the sixth, the kids played real well, that was a heartbreaker - we've had some super-tight games," said Knight head coach Mike McLachlan. "Obviously it wasn't the results we were looking for but the kids battled some really tough teams and were ahead for most of the games. That's peewee baseball."
The Knights finish today against Ladner.
