In a battle of the top two teams, it was the Langley Blaze coming out on top, winning 5-2.
The Blaze were on the road at Delair Park on May 2 against the first-place Abbotsford Cardinals, and with the win, Langley pulled to within a half-game of the first-place Cards in the B.C. Premier (U18) Baseball League.
The victory was the sixth in a row for Langley (8-3).
The Blaze wasted little time in Thursday’s game, scoring two runs in the top of the first inning with Tyler O’Neill’s second home run, a two-run shot which scored Shoma Sasaki.
The Cardinals got those runs back in the third, scoring twice on four hits off Blaze starter Liam Stroud. But that would be all they could get as except for a walk in the second inning, those were the only Abbotsford base runners in the game.
Stroud finished with eight strikeouts over the seven innings.
And the Blaze pulled ahead for good in the fifth when O’Neill drove in Mike Dagg with a double.
Langley would tack on two more runs in the seventh with Griffin Andreychuk scoring Preston Kokotailo with a single and then scoring himself on an Abbotsford error.
O’Neill finished the game 3-for-4 with three RBIs. He leads the PBL with a .600 batting average, two home runs and 18 RBIs. He is tied for the league lead with two triples.
Up next for Langley is a home game against the White Rock Tritons on May 3 at McLeod Park. First pitch is 6:30 p.m. They follow that up with a doubleheader on May 5 at South Surrey Athletic Park, again against the Tritons.
