The playoff match-ups were finalized in the B.C. Premier Baseball League Tuesday afternoon, and the North Delta Blue Jays still had a couple of games to play.
Unfortunately for the Jays, the two contests still to be played were make-up games, which had no effect on the postseason tournament which will begin Saturday.
The Blue Jays split a double header with the Victoria Mariners Sunday afternoon at Mackie Park, then lost two make-up games on their home field Tuesday, dropping three games out of a playoff position.
North Delta, which hosted the Victoria Eagles in a double header today (Wednesday) to conclude their season, went into the day with a 19-27 won-lost record.
The won their 19th game of the season in the first game Sunday, a 4-3 10-inning victory over the Mariners. James Tereschyn singled to score Dirk Van Ommen in the bottom of the 10th, giving relief pitcher Douglas Strohan the win. Jeff Bouchard pitched the first nine innings, allowing three unearned runs on five hits and a walk. Cam Frick was the leading batter with three hits, including a double.
The Mariners blanked North Delta 5-0 in the rematch. Van Ommen went two-for-three to lead all Blue Jays batters.
The Jays played twice at Mackie Park again Tuesday, but were the visitors in a pair of make-up games.
The Parksville Royals edged North Delta 2-1 in an afternoon contest, tying the game on a two-out wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning, then getting the winner in the eighth on a bases-loaded single with one out.
Shane Wlodarczak pitched a complete game, but took the loss after coming within an out of a victory. Of the two Royals runs, only one was earned. Woladarczak gave up seven hits and three walks while striking out six Parksville batters. Bouchard was the top offensive player for North Delta, scoring his team’s lone run and going two-for-four at the plate with a double.
Playing against the Abbotsford Cardinals in the evening, North Delta took a 2-0 lead after two innings on RBIs from Tereschyn and Woladarczak, but fell 3-2.
– The Fraser Valley Chiefs also missed the postseason, losing three of their final four games to finish the year at 21-27, two games out of the final playoff position.
The Chiefs were held to one hit and fell 2-1 to the Coquitlam Reds Sunday night in Coquitlam, where the Reds broke a 1-1 tie wih a two-out RBI single. Brody Hawkins scored the Fraser Valley run, getting on base after getting hit by a pitch, stealing second base, then scoring on Braeden Allemann’s single.
Facing the Reds again Tuesday morning, Fraser Valley was blanked 6-0, as Coquitlam pitchers limited the Chiefs to just four hits.
Playing the first of two games against the Victoria Mariners in Coquitlam Tuesday afternoon, the Chiefs were again limited to four hits but made the most of them in a 4-1 win. Mitch Dornblut smacked a two-run home run after Hawkins had singled in the first inning. Dale Mar got on base on an error, then scored on a wild pitch in the third frame. Dornblut crossed the plate for the fourth run in the sixth, drawing a walk and scoring on Dylan Rehmke’s base hit.
Dylan Johnson was the winning pitcher, allowing one earned run on two hits and three walks.
A 3-1 Mariners win in eight innings closed out the Chiefs season. A single by Rehmke in the third gave Fraser Valley an early lead, but the Mariners tied it two innings later, then got the win with two runs on three hits in the first extra inning.
