The Okanagan College Coyotes Baseball team opened up their fifth season competing in the Canadian Colleges Baseball Conference by splitting four games on the weekend in a chilly exhibition series of games at Elks Stadium last weekend.
OC won two games against the University of Calgary Dinos and lost two to the Thompson Rivers University Wolfpack, placing third in the five team round robin tournament.
Thompson Rivers and Prairie Baseball Academy both went 4–0 while the U of Calgary and Vancouver Island U were both 0–4. In spite of the freezing weather the sun came out in the afternoons and the baseball was very competitive for opening weekend. Typical of early season baseball the Coyotes pitching was strong in most of the games whereas the hitting struggled at times.
Here is a summary of the Coyotes four games
•Game 1
Winning pitcher Tanner Collins had a strong game, allowing just three runs over eight-and-two-thirds innings of work, scattering just four hits, walking three and, striking out 11 as OC doubled Calgary 6-3.
Offensively Braden Heyland was 2 for 5 while Joel Lamont was 2 for 4.
•Game 2
Rivals OC and TRU were in a close battle with TRU leading 4-3 in the sixth inning before TRU blew the game open with six runs and the Coyotes could not respond.
Losing pitcher Marcus Drewry pitched four innings giving up four runs on five hits, four walks and four strikeouts against a veteran TRU squad that features mostly fourth year players and will likely be one of the teams to beat in the CCBC this year.
•Game 3
Winning pitcher Kody Rock was solid over seven innings of work as OC defeated Calgary 2-0. Rock scattered six hits and struck out four while Braden Heyland drove in both OC runs.
•Game 4
The second game of the weekend between OC and TRU was a pitchers’ duel between TRU ace Wataru Asaoka and OC’s Joel Lamont. Asaoka pitched eight innings, allowing just two runs and five hits while Lamont pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on four hits. OC led 2-1 in the seventh before TRU scored once in the eighth and two more in the ninth for the 5-2 win.
OC hits the road to Norbrock Stadium in Kamloops this weekend for two games against both TRU and Prairie Baseball Academy. OC’s next home games are April 6 and 7 hosting the 2012 league champions Prairie Baseball Academy Dawgs in a four game set.
