Get the middle of order whacking the ball and good things happen.
So it goes for the Vernon Canadians, 10-7 and 11-3 Okanagan Midget AA Baseball League winners over the Kamloops Riverdogs Saturday at Marshall Field.
“The middle of our bench is hitting 500, scoring runs and always battling for the top batting positions,” said Carl Vardon, coach alongside Mike Lewis. “A good work ethic leads to sucess and I am proud to say we have more than one leader on this team. Keep it up and we can win it all.”
Ryan Gamage went 2-for-3 with two doubles, two RBI, two runs and a walk in the opener. Matt Hansen was 2-for-3 with three ribbies and two walks, while Izacc Lowe singled and doubled and scored twice and Nakoda Parker supplied two hits, one RBI, two runs and a walk.
Kalvin Blaeser tossed 97 pitches over five innings, allowing four runs with five strikeouts and three walks for the win. Gamage gave up three runs over 1 2/3 innings, while Haydon Vardon fanned all three men he faced in a third of an inning.
In Game 2, Lowe, Liam Alstad and Gamage each produced two hits, while Rylan Henry smacked an RBI-single and scored once and James Eustache singled, scored and walked.
Hansen pitched four innings, giving up two runs while fanning four and issuing one walk. Vardon allowed one run in three innings of relief, walking two and striking out two.
Added coach Vardon: “The players played as well as the field looked. An early start to the day gave us an opportuninty to get a full hour of field maintanence in. It goes to prove that when you look well you play well.”
Meanwhile, the Five Star Awards Jays dispatched the Associated the Associated Ready-Mix Green Machines 15-8 in Mosquito play at Lakeview Park.
The Jays got outstanding pitching from Jordie Brown, Turner Hayward, Drew Christensen and Everett Brown.
Brown, Christensen and Hayward all went 4-for-4 with Brown smacking his first triple of the season. Grady Barg, Ben Bradford, Sawyer Lehr and Naden Toews also added to the Jays’ offence.
