Ball fans fill stadium for finale of Baseball Week in Nanaimo

Baseball Week In Nanaimo culminated with barnburner of a ball game.

A Nanaimo all-star team tied the Victoria HarbourCats 7-7 on Friday night at Serauxmen Stadium.

The stands and the beer gardens were filled up for the exhibition and fans were treated to a wild one as the home team went up 4-0, fell behind 5-4, then went back ahead 7-5 before settling for a draw after nine innings.

“It was a good atmosphere,” said Griffin Andreychuk, who played shortstop for the Nanaimo all-stars. “We haven’t had a turnout like this, which is cool to see.”

Andreychuk said there’s a lot of good baseball games for people to catch in Nanaimo.

“It’s something fun to watch … People maybe take it for granted,” he said. “It’s cool to have an old historic park like this … It is beat up and it is what it is, but it has a chance to be probably one of the best ballparks in B.C. if some money gets raised and put back into it.”

Baseball Week in Nanaimo started with minor, junior and premier-league games last weekend. Toronto Blue Jays alumni were in Nanaimo earlier this week, leading camps for young players Tuesday and Wednesday and coaching a charity softball game Tuesday.

The Serauxmen Stadium Amateur Baseball Association, which is working toward improvements at the ballpark, organized the week’s events.

“It couldn’t have gone better…” said Lorne Goodall, the group’s president. “[It was] nice to see the turnout tonight, lots of old baseball people came out that we haven’t seen in a long time. It was really nice to see the positive energy in the stadium.”

The announced attendance was more than 1,000.

Goodall thanked the community for its support, all the businesses for their sponsorship, and the contributions from the Serauxmen and Rotary clubs.

Great atmosphere at the ballpark tonight. Nanaimo all-stars and Victoria HarbourCats played to a 7-7 tie… #Nanaimo #baseball pic.twitter.com/3wjp1pVuEZ

— Greg Sakaki (@BulletinSports) July 28, 2018