The Vernon Tolko Canadians split a season-opening doubleheader with the defending B.C.Midget AA champion Kamloops Riverdogs Saturday at Brock Stadium, winning 8-2 after losing 9-2.
Nakoda Parker was 2-for-3 with two singles and four stolen bases to spark Vernon in Game 2. Matt Hanson singled, walked, swiped three bases and scored twice.
“It was a great comeback by the boys, coming alive at the plate and playing great defence,” said Canadians’ coach Carl Vardon, joined by Mike Lewis.
Ryan Gamage threw 74 pitches, 50 of them strikes while mowing down nine batters and issuing four hits. He singled, walked and stole one bag on offence.
Hayden Vardon, Kalvin Blaeser and Liam Alstad shared the mound duties in the loss
Gamage doubled and scoring on a sac fly by Dakota Becker, while Colby Geiger was 2-for-2 with a great pair of bunts. Vardon singled, stole two bases and scored one run.
Meanwhile, home field wasn’t all that sweet to the Vernon Canadians in the B.C. 18U Baseball League at Marshall Field.
The Canadians were swept 6-4 and 10-4 by the Victoria Eagles Sunday and lost 7-5 and 14-13 to the first-place South Fraser Giants Saturday, falling to 1-7 on the season.
Vernon could muster just four hits in the Game 2 loss to Victoria with Caden Doyle going 2-for-3 with a double. Jarod Leroux and Corey Anderson had the other hits. Doyle and reliver Ethan Huizinga gave up eight hits.
Kadyn Thomas went the distance in the close opening loss, allowing 10 hits. Leroux and Raynan Cambel each stroked a pair of singles, while Thomas and Dawson Chase added singles.
The C’s managed 10 hits against South Fraser in Saturday’s series opener with Cadon Bracken smacking a triple and two doubles and Dylan Ecklund and Ryan Gudljek each supplying two singles. Corey Anderson gave up six hits while going the distance.
Doyle tripled and singled as the C’s lost a slugfest in the second game. Thomas, Leroux, Eckland, Gudljek and Anderson chipped in with singles. Chasem Doyle and Eckland handled the hill.
The C’s battle the Kelowna Sun Devils in a Saturday twinbill with games at 1 and 3:30 p.m. at Marshall Field.
The Kal Tire Bantam AA Vernon Canadians ambushed the Richmond Chuckers 7-1 and 8-3 in their first home games of the season.
Sapion Joe pitched a strong first game, taking control early with multiple strikeouts. Sieji Bott hurled well in relief, holding off some late attempts from Richmond.
Sapion helped his own cause by hitting 3-for-3, and got clutch-hit help from Ryan Vandesande, Mathew Gehrman, and Jaydon Viet.
In Game 2, Vernon leaned on starting pitcher Jared Nickoli to keep the momentum going. He responded by pitching into the late innings, also recording numerous strikeouts.
Shaun Huizinga pitched the last two innings in relief just as the weather turned nasty. Through the wind and rain, he managed to strike out four and finish the game.
Nickoli helped his start as well, going 1-for-1 with two walks and three runs. Joe and Vandesande both went 2-for-2 with a walk.