It may be early in the season, but the Langley Blaze are in peak form.
The Blaze won three of four weekend contests and have now won seven of eight BC Premier (18U) Baseball League games, improving to 8-3 overall.
Langley fell 5-2 to the North Shore Twins before bouncing back with a 3-2 victory to split Saturday’s doubleheader at McLeod Athletic Park.
They went to Victoria the next afternoon, sweeping the Mariners 11-2 and 7-6.
The Blaze’s winning streak was in jeopardy in Sunday’s second game as they trailed 4-3 after five innings but scored four runs to take the lead for good.
Brandon Nicoll, Tate Dearing and Jared Crossley had a pair of RBIs apiece to power the offence.
Ryan Beitel earned the win, striking out three and allowing three runs — only one of which was earned — over 3.1 innings.
Sunday’s earlier game saw the Blaze flex their offensive muscle as they reached double digits in runs for the third time in the past five games with an 11-2 win.
Daniel Martin (four RBIs) and Justin Thorsteinson (three RBIs) powered the attack while Colby Ring improved to 3-0 on the mound, allowing just a single hit and one unearned run while striking out five over four innings.
The weekend’s lone blemish came in game one on Saturday, a 5-2 setback to the Twins.
Josh Marchese provided Langley’s lone offence with a two-run RBI.
Dearing was tagged with the loss, despite striking out four of the 13 batters he faced as he allowed just one hit and two runs.
The losing streak was short-lived however, as with extra innings looming, Nick Holdershaw delivered a game-winning RBI to snap a 2-2 tie in Langley’s 3-2 victory.
Beitel earned the win as he came on in the top of the seventh inning with two runners on and retired the only batter he faced.
Langley is back in action on May 8 as they visit the White Rock Tritons before hosting the first-place Abbotsford Cardinals at MAP on May 10. The Cardinals lead the league with a 9-1 mark, 1.5 games ahead of the third-place Blaze.
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