Oceanside’s gritty squad of Reds are back home from the AA Mosquito Rep provincial baseball championships with a silver medal.
In action in Surrey Aug. 3-5 and in tough from the outset, the Reds faced the two top-ranked teams in B.C. on opening day and sent a message they weren’t to be taken lightly.
Against the Burnaby Braves (Lower Mainland champs and undefeated in summer league play), “the boys hit the ball very well and the pitching was strong but some fielding errors were our Achilles heel, resulting in a 16-12 loss,” Reds’ co-coach Andy Macdonald recapped.
Jimmy Shworan was big at the plate and Brandon Nicoll hit a home run.
Against the Vernon Canadians, Oceanside took a 6-0 lead into the third inning. Vernon battled back to take an 8-6 lead. The Reds rallied and were up 10-8 going to the top of the sixth. The Canadians tied it up 10-10, and in the bottom of the inning Nolan Macdonald led off his team with a clutch triple.
Trevor Nicoll’s pop fly towards second base was bobbled and dropped and Macdonald blasted home and beat the throw to the plate, sliding in safely for the Oceanside win.
Back at it early the next morning against the defending B.C. champion Surrey Cardinals, “the boys were on their game.”
Strong on the bats and in the field along with good pitching led by Brandon Nicoll with three-and-a-half shutout innings led the Reds to an 8-1 win.
Oceanside capped off the day with a solid 12-8 win over the Gibsons Dodgers to secure themselves a spot in the final four.
Keys to the victory included “some strong hitting and a stellar effort on the mound by Jaxon Ackerman.”
Against their Island rivals from Ladysmith, with the winner advancing to the gold medal game that afternoon, the Reds dug deep and earned themselves a 10-7 win.
Strong pitching performances by Brandon Snyder, Jimmy Shworan and Trevor Nicoll combined with a timely, late inning long hit to the fence by Macdonald resulting in a two-run inside-the-park home run, pushed the Reds ahead of the Cannons.
Back at it a few hours later against a very strong Braves team, the game went the full six innings but it was Burnaby winning 11-2. Justin Geiger’s strong pitching through three innings earned him the Reds’ MVP in that one.
During the closing ceremonies the Reds’ Brandon Nicoll was also presented with the Tournament MVP “for his great performance in all elements of the game, including two long home runs over the left field fence.
Nicoll also pitched extremely well in key situations, helping the Reds secure their victories against the Vernon Canadians and Surrey Cardinals.”
This was the Mosquito Reds’ second straight trip to the provincials and they were the only local Rep team to qualify for the provincials this year.
