A weekend filled with multiple lead changes and wild momentum swings ended up all even between the Okanagan Athletics and Nanaimo Pirates.
The A’s (8-4) split a pair of doubleheaders with the hometown Pirates in B.C. Premier Baseball League, with all four games potentially going either way.
“I’ve never seen four consecutive games be so back and forth,” said Athletics head coach Evan Bailey. “Every game we had the lead, but ended up just taking two of the four. Having said that, with all that happened, a split wasn’t bad.
“It certainly wasn’t for a lack of effort from our guys.”
The A’s opened the series Saturday with a 2-1 win, as Easton Forrest went 6 1/3 innings on four hits to push his record to 3-0 on the season.
In Game 2, the A’s built up a 5-3 lead but lost 7-6 in nine innings. Chase Decosse had two hits for Okanagan and scored three times.
On Sunday, the A’s scored five times in eighth to break a 3-3 tie and eventually went on for an 8-4 win. McCoy Pearce paced the offense with two hits and three RBIs.
Sam Avila earned the win in relief.
In the series finale, the Pirates came back from an 8-3 deficit to beat the A’s 12-9.
Markus Glowacki had three hits and three RBIs in the loss.
Meanwhile, one of the league’s top pitchers from 2014 will get his first start this weekend at home to Abbotsford.
Matt Brodt, 17., who went 5-5 with a 2.60 ERA last season, didn’t start the season with the ball club but has since played seven games and is batting .429.
“It’s huge for us to have (Matt) back,” said Bailey. “He’s probably one of the five best arms in the league. It really bolsters our pitching staff and our team.”
The A’s will host the Cardinals for two doubleheaders at Elks Stadium, beginning Saturday at 2 p.m.
