The Quality Foods Parksville Royals picked up a victory over the Victoria Mariners in a double-header this weekend, winning 6-3.
With three games last week, the Royals had the lone victory on Saturday to go with two losses, one to the Nanaimo Pirates Wednesday (7-1) and a 10-0 loss to the Mariners.
Royals Pitcher Colton Tuka got the win on the mound in game one on Saturday, pitching six and two-thirds innings, striking out seven batters and giving up three runs on eight hits. This was Tuka’s third win on the mound this season for the Royals.
“Tuka pitched a solid game,” Royals head coach Dave Wallace said. “We were able to give him some run support throughout the game as well, which was nice to see.”
“Our pitching staff has done a good job all season at giving us a chance to win ball games and we were able to pull through offensively to get some runs up on the board and win one.”
It was a good offensive display for the Royals in their 6-3 win over the Mariners as the team put together 12 hits, with all but one player registering a hit in the game.
Adam McKillican, the designated hitter in the game, collected three RBI’s for the Royals, while centerfielder Ethan Fox had two RBI’s and catcher Cory Bukauskas went 2-3 with an RBI as well.
“It was good to see the bats come alive,” Wallace said. “We’ve struggled at the plate this year to put together hits and drive in runs as a team.”
“We’ve had guys in scoring position and failed to bring them around multiple times, so to see us have a game like this was a good sign that the hard work they’ve been putting in at practice has paid off.”
The lone win this past weekend gives the Royals a 6-22 record on the season, currently putting them in last place in the BCPBL.
Though they’re at the bottom looking up, the Royals aren’t far behind the teams ahead of them as just four games separates them from moving from last place up to eighth place in the league.
“The standings are close,” Wallace said. “Everyone is capable of pulling off wins against any team, it doesn’t matter where you are in the standings.”
“Of course, we’d like to be up there a little higher and closer to being in a playoff spot but we aren’t that far off.”
“If we can maintain the level of consistency we showed in our win against the Mariners on Saturday, we’ll find ourselves in a favourable spot in due time.”
The Royals are back in action this weekend as they’ll be on the mainland for four games, two against the Abbotsford Cardinals on Saturday, June 27 and two against the Langley Blaze on Sunday, June 28.
The Royals will then return home for a double-header on July 1 (Canada Day) against the Victoria Eagles.
