It was an all-Lower-Mainland final for men’s baseball gold at the 2018 BC Summer Games in the Cowichan Valley Sunday morning.
This area of the province has always had a proud baseball tradition and it proved no different at this level, as talent was on full display during the Games final day.
Zone 5 (Vancouver-Coastal) edged Zone 3 (Fraser Valley) in a tight 3-2 gold medal game, riding the hot hand of starting pitcher Ryan Engel, who went six and two-thirds innings to earn the win.
Even more admirable is that Engel is only in eighth grade and was pitching against many players one year older, according to the BC Games Society.
With Fraser Valley jumping on his fastball, Engel was forced to lean on his his curveball and changeup as strikeout pitches.
“They’re just older and stronger and they know how to hit,” said Engel. “They can hit fastballs really well.”
The winning run came in the fifth inning when Vancouver-Coastal executed a sacrifice bunt to perfection that scored a runner from third base.
– With files from Kyle Christensen
