Royals in Red for Canada Day weekend, go 2 for 4

The Save-On-Foods Parksville Royals opened the Canada Day weekend with two games against the Victoria Eagles on Saturday at Inouye-Wallace field.  Brady Radcliffe got the start for the red-clad Royals, throwing 6 innings and allowing 4 runs, 3 earned.   Brodie Comerford came on to pitch a scoreless 7th and Radcliffe improved his record to a league-leading 8 and 2 on the season.  Jake Nikirk went 2 for 3 at the plate with an RBI.  Radcliffe, Spencer Walton, and Connor Hall also contributed RBI’s as Parksville went on to win 7-4.

Ryan Humphreys got the start in game 2 and didn’t have his command, throwing 4 wild pitches and hitting three batters.  Shae Verral came on in relief with two aboard and nobody out in the 2nd inning and righted the ship.  Verral threw 6 innings of shut-out ball requiring only 67 pitches including 48 strikes.  The offense couldn’t take advantage of Verral’s mastery, however, and were only able to put up 2 runs in support.    Ben Munger had the big day at the dish going 2 for 3 with a double and a stand-up triple.  Josh Laukkanen doubled and scored in the third on Brodie Comerford’s RBI single and Thomas Green rounded out the north Island offense with a triple of his own in the first inning.  Final score Eagles 5 Royals 2.

On Canada Day down in Victoria, the Royals took on the Mariners.   Josh Laukkanen took the mound and delivered 4 innings of 4 run ball.  Shae Verral came on in relief and after pitching clean 5th and 6th innings, the Mariners got to him in the 7th putting three men aboard with nobody out and the Royals leading 6-4.  Coach Kaluzniak turned to Brodie Comerford who took the Mariners down 1-2-3 to clinch the win and record a save.

Let me tell you sports fans, that the odds of scoring at least one run in that situation are really high, we’re talking around 85%.  Getting out of a jam like that without allowing a run is quite a thing and so baseball analyst Bill James gave it a name a few years back; he called it a Full Houdini.   Comerford earned his 2nd save of the year in grand style and has now allowed just 1 earned run over 17 innings. 

The offense put up 6 runs on 11 hits and it was Ben Munger again with the hot bat.  Munger went 3 for 4 with a double, a triple, and 2 RBI.  Josh Laukkanen and Connor Hall were each 2 for 3 with doubles and Spencer Walton was 1 for 3 with a double and 2 runs scored.

In the back end of the double-header, Brayden Baker got the start and battled through 3 1/3 innings allowing 8 runs but only 2 earned.  Jacob Volkers came on in relief and allowed 4 earned runs over 2 2/3 innings.  The game was a back and forth affair as the lead changed hands 4 times in the first 4 innings until Victoria broke it open with 4 runs in the 6th.  Josh Laukkanen was 3 for 3 with a double and 2 RBI and leads the team in hitting with a slash line of .352/.500/.562 on the season.    Spencer Walton, who caught all 28 innings in the 4 games, capped off a strong weekend at the plate going 2 for 3 with another 3 RBI.    

Ben Munger was 2 for 4 with another double in game 4 bringing his line for the weekend to a remarkable 0.538 (7 for 13) with 3 doubles, 2 triples, 2 RBI, and 4 runs scored.  

Bantam Royals compete in Kyle Losse Memorial tournament

The Save-On-Foods Parksville Bantam Royals were in Tsawwassen this weekend to take part in the 16 team Kyle Losse Memorial Tournament this past weekend. The first game in round robin action would see Anson McGorman take to hill for the Royals.  After a shaky first inning McGorman would settle in and shut the door on the Chilliwack Cougars striking out 10 batters. Will Roberts led the offence going 3-4 at the plate with 2 single and a double and 1 RBI. Austin Walper would add to the hit list with a single and double while driving in 3 RBI’s but it was not enough as a couple of untimely errors would be the difference and Chilliwack would best the Royals 7-6.

In game 2 the Royals would take on the North Shore Padres. Austin Walper would turn in one of his best outings on the mound this season going 6 2/3 innings shutting out the Padres, striking out 9 and walking only one batter. Anson McGorman and Owen Crouse would lead the offensive both going  2-3 at the plate with a single and double and 1 RBI each. The Royals would come out on top 7-0.

The Royals took on the Abbotsford Angels in game 3 and starting pitcher Ethan Dean was absolutely dominant on the hill for the Royals.  Dean pitched a complete on 75 pitches and allowed just 1 run. The boys in purple would back him up with solid defense and some big hits. Kolby Wood went 3-3 with 3 singles, McGorman 2-3 with a single with 2 RBI. Royals finish on top 5-1.

In the final game of round-robin play, the Royals took on their PBL rivals the North Shore Twins. Ellis Vugteveen turned in a marquee performance on the mound keeping the powerhouse Twins off the board for 6 innings but the Royals could not solve the Twin’s lefty pitcher and were unable to score any runs in 7 innings. The Twin’s would win in the bottom of 7th with a controversial “walk off” walk to win the game.

The Royals finished 2-2 in their pool including two 1-run 7th inning losses and fell short of advancing to the semi-finals. A consolation game verse the Cowichan Mustangs would round out weekend. Dean would get the start and throw 2 innings and Nathan Underhill was overpowering in relief of Dean pitching 5 innings and only giving up 1 run. Will Roberts would continue to be hot at the plate going 2-3 with a single and double.  Austin Walper would drive in Cameron Bell in the 1rst inning. The Royals would hold on the 1 nothing lead until the bottom of the 7th when Mustangs would tie it up but that would be it. The game would end 1-1.

Coach Wes Dieleman commented, “We've been on the wrong end of a lot of 1 run games lately. The chances are there but we haven't been able to get a lot of timely hits. We will continue to work hard in that area. Our pitchers have been great, giving our team a chance in every game.”

Next weekend the Bantams are off to Victoria to take on the Eagles.