Story by Brian Blair

Photo by Rachel Lenkowski

Saturday was the opening home game for the Bantam Eagles, as the White Rock Trtions came over for a visit to Carnarvon Park.

Nathan Knight took the mound to start things off and got off to a great start, holding the Tritons scoreless until the 3rd when a couple of walks unfortunately led to their first run, off a hard single to center.  A couple of doubles in the 4th led to another run for White Rock and a 2-0 lead.  Victoria got one back in the fourth, as Knight helped his own cause with a single, which ultimately led to him scoring after another single by Matt Levecque.

White Rock piled on 4 runs in the top of the fifth, before Victoria got 2 back in the bottom of the 6th.  Aricin Seto got things rolling with a double to left, followed by a walk to Haris Gangji. Austin Blair then hit a double to the left field fence, scoring Seto before Gangji scored off a sac fly by Kayden Militello, to make the game 6-3   The Tritons got another 4 runs in the 7th though, including a 3 run homer to cente by Walker Kokotailo for the final runs of the game, in a 10-3 loss.

Game 2 was a different story. Brody Ruffle was the starting pitcher and went 3 ⅓ innings, only allowing one run in the third.  Victoria promptly got that run back in the third.  Blair led off the inning with a single through short and later came around to score after an error by the shortstop.

In the fourth, Antoine Lagan singled and ultimately scored after an error later in the inning by the first baseman for Victoria’s first lead of the game.

Harlan Chervatin relieved Ruffle on the mound and pitched a scoreless 3 ⅔ innings, allowing only two hits over that time. His teammates gave him more support in the 5th, to pad their lead.  Levecque doubled and scored after Jack Jeffery singled, which was then followed by RBI singles by Aidan Marson and Aldous Johnson, to make the score 5-1.  Victoria got another run in the 6th after doubles by Jayden Ferriera and Blair.  Chervatin got credit for Victoria’s first win of the young season, and the Eagles smiles were as bright as the afternoon sun.

Sunday’s opponent were the league leading Langley Blaze.  They jumped all over the Victoria pitchers in game 1, ultimately winning 19-2.  Victoria didn’t score until the 4th inning, after a single by Reese Hammond brought in Austin Blair who had walked earlier and got another in the 5th after a wild pitch scored Levecque.

Game 2 was a much closer game.  Jack Jeffrey was the starter and went 6 strong innings, only allowing 2 earned runs, while striking out 6.  The Eagles defence didn’t offer much support though, as errors led to 3 more unearned runs, in what turned into a 5-0 final.  The Langley pitchers were also dominant, only allowing 5 hits over the two combined games.

Victoria heads to White Rock Saturday for a return match against the Tritons, followed by North Shore on Sunday.