With a sweep of the Abbotsford Cardinals on the road Saturday afternoon, the North Delta Blue Jays moved closer to reaching the B.C. Premier Baseball League’s postseason tournament.
With seven games remaining on their schedule, the Blue Jays (16-25, won-lost) are just two games behind Abbotsford (18-23) in a race for the final playoff position. North Delta edged the Cards by scored of 12-10 and 3-2.
After scoring four times in the top of the first inning of game one, North Delta saw their early lead disappear when the Cardinals crossed the plate five times in the second frame.
The Blue Jays put up another four runs in the third, reigning the lead by an 8-5 score, an advantage they held the rest of the way.
Austin Ell had a huge day at the plate, leading all Blue Jays batters with with three doubles, two runs scored and four runs batted in (RBI).
Malcolm Boehm and Tyler Hoefer also had three hits, contributing the North Delta’s total of 15. Hoefer, Curtis Hildenbrandt and Evan Rogers each had a pair of RBIs.
The Blue Jays outhit Abbotsford 11-4 in the second game, but needed nine innings to edge the Cardinals 3-2.
Ryo Takenaka led the winners at the plate and on the mound. He was the winning pitcher, throwing five innings of relief and allowing one earned run on two hit and a walk while collecting six strikeouts. Takenaka was also three-for-four.
Ell and Brock Morgan had two this each, with Surrey resident Matt Gillen driving in a pair of runs.
– The playoff hopes of the Whalley Chiefs took a hit Tuesday night in Coquitlam, where the last-place Coquitlam Reds scored four times in the bottom of the sixth inning for an 8-7 victory.
The Chiefs lost leads of four and three runs, and with a 16-25 record are two and one-half games out of a playoff position with six games left on their schedule.
Whalley led 4-0 after batting in the top of the fourth inning, before the home side scored four times to knot the score. The Chiefs responded with three runs in the fifth inning to take a 7-4 lead into the sixth.
Cole hunt and colton Wright each had a pair of hits for the Chiefs, with Hunt driving in one run and scoring twice and Wright collecting a pair of RBIs.
The Chiefs host the White Rock Tritons tonight at 7 p.m. in Whalley Stadium.
