It’s too early in the season for White Rock Tritons’ coach Russ Smithson to be overly concerned about his baseball team, but a few wins would go a long way, nonetheless.
The Tritons – coming off a season that saw them make the BC Premier Baseball League playoffs for the first time since 2009 – lost three of four games at home to the Okanagan Athletics on the weekend, and currently sit with a 1-5 record through the first two weeks of the season.
On Saturday, the two clubs split a doubleheader – the Athletics won the opener 2-0, and White Rock won the nightcap 4-3 – and the Athletics swept both games Sunday, by 4-2 and 12-4 scores.
“It was a tough offensive weekend for us,” Smithson said. “We only scored in four of the 28 innings we played, so that was frustrating. We just couldn’t get a hit with a guy on base – we couldn’t get a hit when we needed one. And if we can’t get some timely hitting here, we aren’t going to win too many games.”
That said, the Tritons were playing without two middle-of-the-order bats – catcher Thomas Vincent and first baseman Tom Melenchuk are both out with injuries – and it does sometimes take hitters longer than pitchers to find a groove early in the season.
As well, the Tritons’ first two opponents this year – the Athletics, plus the Langley Blaze – are both among the PBL’s elite squads.
“It’ll come around, it’s still early,” Smithson said. “Six games is a chunk of the season, but there’s still a lot of games left, so we’ll have to battle back and win a couple, but there’s no easy wins in this league.”
Despite winning just once in four games, Smithson was impressed by the play of a pair of players, namely reserve outfielder/pitcher Liam Mitchell.
In Game 1 Saturday, Mitchell pitched two innings in relief of starter Saylor Gray – striking out three – and in the second game, he played right field, going 2-for-3 at the plate with a run-batted-in (RBI) and a run scored.
“Liam was our best player on the weekend,” Smithson said.
“He came into the season sort of as a role player for us, but he got the chance to play Saturday and took advantage.”
The coach was also impressed with the play of catcher Graydon Rasmussen, who hit a pair of doubles and was behind the plate for three of the four contests, in the absence of the injured Vincent.
In the Tritons’ win Saturday, Keaton Edwards was the pitcher of record, striking out eight while allowing just three hits and two earned-runs over five innings of work. Anthony Aiello and Barry Caine pitched an inning each in relief, to cement the victory.
While the first three games of the weekend were all close, Sunday’s 12-4 loss to close out the schedule was something of an outlier – which Smithson pinned, at least somewhat, on a tired and overworked pitching staff.
“It took us a few more pitchers (than planned) to get through the first three games, so come Game 4, we were pretty gassed in the bullpen,” he said. “But Okanagan is also a very good team, so give them credit.”
The Tritons played Tuesday night against the Coquitlam Reds – the game was played after Peace Arch News’ press deadlines – and the squad will look to add to its win total again Sunday, when they host the North Shore Twins for a pair of games at South Surrey Athletic Park. The first game starts at noon, with the second set for 2:30 p.m.
Smithson expected to have Vincent back in the lineup, but suggested Melenchuk was still doubtful to return.
“I can’t wait to get (Vincent) back into the lineup. He’s our number three or four hitter, so he’ll really help,” he said.
“Hopefully we can start getting some wins here. We need some, there’s no doubt about that.”
