The Okanagan College Coyotes swing into the new Canadian College Baseball Conference season this weekend with four games at Norbrock Stadium in Kamloops.
OC plays the Prairie Baseball Academy Dawgs and the host Thompson Rivers Wolfpack on Saturday, then will face the same opponents on Sunday.
The Coyotes are coming a solid preseason which saw them post an overall 18-12 record.
Last weekend, OC closed out its exhibition schedule taking four of five games from the University of Calgary, outscoring the Dinos 34-15 in the process.
The opener on Friday saw the Yotes win 12-9, as starter Zac Yandeau threw six innings giving up six runs on 10 hits, and striking out eight.
Davis Todosichuk and Logan Wedgewood led the offense with Todosichuk going 3-5 with two doubles, an RBI and scoring twice, while Wedgewood also went 3-5 with a double, two RBI and three runs scored.
On Saturday, Cole Parusinni tossed a complete game eight hitter in a 5-1 win.
Offensively, the Coyotes only managed four hits, but were aided by costly Calgary walks and errors. Aaron Barrett was the lone bright spot going 1-1 with a double, walk, was hit by a pitch, stole two bases and scored three times.
The second half of the doubleheader saw OC drop an extra inning game 5-4 in 10. Brett Fleming threw eight solid innings allowing four runs, all coming in the third inning.
On Sunday, the Coyotes took both games by scores of 4-1 and 10-0.
In the first game, Mitchell St. Laurent gave up just a run and three hits in a complete game effort. Todosichuk went 2-for-4, scoring twice and stealing three bases. Eric Junnola added a double and two RBIs.
In the weekend finale, the Coyotes came out swinging with eight runs in the first inning.
Starter Brandon Becking who would throw four innings giving up just four hits and striking out four. Junnola led the way at the plate going 2-3 with 2 RBI, while Trevor Lofstrom doubled and scored twice.
“Our pitching staff had a very strong weekend,” said OC pitching coach Jared Johnson. “Our starters showed they could go deep in to games and our relievers stepped up when we needed them. Our pitching staff will dictate how our season goes.
“Our offense will be able to put up runs against each team in our league, the one question mark we have had is whether our pitchers would be able to hold off other teams offenses. I believe this weekend we showed that we have five capable starters and the back end of our bullpen will be tough to score on.”
