The Vernon Canadians lost 8-2 to the Tri-City Reds of Vancouver in Monday’s semifinals of the River City Classic 11U Prospects Baseball Tournament in Kamloops.
Both teams went 3-1 in preliminary play. Vernon took the early lead with two runs in the first inning, but Tri-City responded with two in the second and four in the third. Everett Brown went 2-for-2 and Kaleb Murray struck out seven batters over three innings for the C’s.
Tri-City won the tournament with a 6-0 victory over Cloverdale Spurs.
“The kids played their hearts out, had a blast and should hold their heads very high,” said Vernon coach Nathan Lee. “This is a very competitive tournament filled with some excellent ball teams so to go 3-2 on the weekend and make semifinal play was an outstanding showing for the new teammates.”
The Canadians opened with an 11-6 victory over the Salmon Arm Hornets Saturday morning. Vernon rang up a dozen 12 hits with Morgan Hackman, Carter Davidson and Jordie Brown each collecting two hits.
Solid pitching was turned in by Jonah Lee, Darius Szwed, Jordie Brown, Devin Sorensen and Micah Davyduke. Davyduke struck out four while allowing no hits and no runs over an inning and a third.
Game 2 set the Canadians up against the host Kamloops Riverdogs in a tough loss for Vernon. Kamloops outhit the Canadians 8-5 with solid pitching from Ibrahim Diaou. Drew Christensen, Davyduke and Sorensen each had a hit and an RBI on the day but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Riverdogs in the 10-4 lose.
The C’s grounded the Ladner Red Sox 5-3 Sunday morning with a four-run first inning on RBI-singles by Davyduke, Szwed and Vincent Sanfilippo. Szwed stole home to cap the explosion. Vernon added to the lead in the fourth when Lee led off with a line-drive double to left field. Murray then tripled to right, scoring Lee.
Drew Christensen threw a solid 4 1/3 innings, fanning six and holding Ladner to three runs. Jordan Herrington struck out two in relief and Sanfilippo closed the door in the sixth. Davyduke and Hackman each supplied two ribbies.
Vernon outslugged the Penticton Tigers 8-6 to finish round-robin play.
Jordie Brown led off with a walk and then stole second on the first pitch. A long fly ball by Murray allowed Brown to tag and score from second.
Herrington took the mound for the Canadians and gave up two runs in an inning and two-thirds. Vernon tacked on three in the second on a triple by Szwed and singles by Hackman, Davidson and Everett Brown. Penticton grabbed a 5-4 lead in the top of the fifth, but the Canadians rallied with four runs. Singles by Christensen, Davidson, Herrington and a walk by Koen Holmes all added runs. Davyduke shut the door in the closer role.