The North Delta Blue Jays and Whalley Chiefs were ousted from the B.C. Premier Baseball playoffs last weekend, each losing their best-of-three series on the road in straight games.
The fifth-place Whalley Chiefs (25-19, win-loss) traveled to Kelowna for a series with the fourth-place (30-14) Okanagan Athletics, where they were swept by scores of 8-6 and 14-0.
Whalley was well on their way to a victory in the first game, leading 5-0 after batting in the top of the fourth inning.
Thomas Espig smacked a two-run home run in the second inning to open the scoring, then Stephen Horner doubled to score Nolan Weger in the third inning.
An error and a wild pitch contributed to two unearned runs by the Chiefs in the fourth, giving the visitors a huge lead.
The Athletics erased the deficit with five runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to tie the game, then added three more in the fifth.
Okanagan continued to dominate in the second game, scoring four times in the first inning and adding two more in the third, and finished the game with 17 hits.
The Chiefs managed just one hit in the game, a double from Brendan Yip.
The 24-20 Blue Jays were in Victoria, where they were eliminated by the 30-14 Victoria Mariners. The Mariners used a three-run fourth inning to win the first game 4-2.
North Delta got a solid pitching performance from Tyler Hoefer, who struck out seven Victoria batters while walking just two. Only two of the four runs he allowed were earned, coming on six hits.
The Blue Jays had just four hits off Mariners’ pitching, two from catcher Noah Or, who drove in one run and scored the other.
The Mariners completed the sweep with another 4-2 win in the second game, scoring three times in the top of the first inning.
The Blue Jays were again outhit 6-4, and were led offensively by Cole Evans, who was two-for-three with a run scored.
FOUL TIPS: The Whalley Chiefs will host the B.C. Junior Premier League Championships Aug. 4-7 at Whalley Stadium.
Four or five teams will compete in a round robin tournament, which is followed by a championshiop game between the top two teams on Sunday, Aug. 7.
The winners of four quarterfinal series being played this week will qualify for the championship tournament.
Should the Junior Chiefs not be among the four, they will qualify as the host team.
