The Nanaimo Pirates didn’t take advantage of a gorgeous weekend for baseball at their home park.
The Hub City Paving Pirates lost three of four B.C. Premier Baseball League games at Serauxmen Stadium, falling 2-1 and 5-2 to the Coquitlam Reds on Saturday and then splitting with the North Delta Blue Jays on Sunday, winning 2-0 and losing 4-1.
“It’s frustrating when you don’t win ball games that you think you’re in, or you are in,” said Doug Rogers, Pirates manager.
Nanaimo played well in its lone win on the weekend, led by starting pitcher Devon Geary who threw a complete-game shutout. Alex Rogers led the offence with two hits and an RBI.
“It was a real tight ball game, with pitching and defence and with timely hitting, which is what you want,” Doug Rogers said. “Second game, we were playing decently up to the fifth, sixth inning, then we fell apart.”
Alex Rogers suffered the loss, throwing 6 1/3 innings while allowing no earned runs and striking out six. Aidan Goodall had two hits and Brady Rogers doubled. The game was 0-0 until the Jays’ Brett Sakaki hit a two-RBI double in the sixth.
The Pirates got strong pitching in both contests Saturday. Luke Skingle threw a complete game in the 2-1 loss, but his defence made five errors and T.J. Mah was the only Pirate to drive in a run.
The second game needed extra innings and Goodall ended up with a no-decision after giving up no earned runs over nine innings. Braeden Mousseau hit a single and a double in that one and Zach Diewert also had a pair of hits.
Manager Doug Rogers said at the plate, the Pirates are taking too many pitches. He said that a called strike means a batter is getting one less opportunity to perhaps succeed by swinging the bat. The team saw what can happen – all four starting pitchers this past weekend had long, effective outings, but none got more than two runs of support.
“We keep squandering those starting pitchers’ good efforts and it starts to wear on those guys a little bit,” the manager said. “They feel they have to do too much and really, right now they have to do more than what they normally would.”
GAME ON … The Pirates (7-10) host the Parksville Royals (2-10) on Wednesday (May 8) at 6 p.m. at Serauxmen Stadium. Check back at www.nanaimobulletin.com for a game-day preview.
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