Hail and rain put the kibosh on Saturday’s scheduled double header between the Parksville Junior Royals baseball team and the North Shore Twins up at Springwood Park, but Sunday was brilliant.
The Jr. Royals picked up their second win of the season in a split against the visiting Fraser Valley Chiefs by identical 8-2 scores.
In game one, the young Royals wrapped out 10 hits and rolled to a well-earned six run win.
Big lefty Keller Anderson from Quadra Island was impressive for the win.
“Great weekend of baseball,” Jr. Royals rookie coach Bruce Biro said after the dust had settled.
The first game “was dominated by our starting pitching and timely hitting,” said Biro, adding Anderson “was exceptional on the hill.”
“He really competed and challenged the hitters, and that what we count on him to do every outing,” said Biro.
Campbell River’s Blake Heemskerk came on in relief in the seventh inning and closed the door.
“He has been our best reliever so far this year, and he will be looked at a lot to close out games like this.”
Timely hitting was also a key component of the win with Parksville’s Justin Dieleman and Sam Visona (Port Alberni) both with two hits in the game and a couple key RBI’s.
In game two “once again our pitching was fantastic,” said Biro, pointing to Parkville’s Andrew Evernden, who threw five solid innings.
“He threw strikes, and they put the ball in play however our defence just couldn’t make a play for him and it cost us.
“But we finally got it together and shut them out the rest of the game.”
Curtis Card from Cumberland came in and threw two strong innings to finish the game.
Bowser’s Eric Night continues to swing a hot bat riding a four-game hitting streak.
Anderson followed up his great pitching performance in game one with two big hits in game two.
“We got the results we deserved this weekend, but we are making huge strides and playing to our potential,” said Biro,
GAME ON
The Jr. Royals are in Abbotsford this weekend for a double header against the Jr. Cardinals.
sports@pqbnews.com
