There were plenty of offensive fireworks late Saturday afternoon at Royal Athletic Park and the Victoria Mavericks came out on the right end of the score, 11-7 against Manitoba.
Unfortunately it was a case of waiting too long to put it all together for the host team at the Baseball Canada menB次元官网网址檚 national championships, as their 2-2 round robin record saw them miss the playoffs.
Make that 11-7 over Manitoba. Vic goes 2-2 at mens nats but misses playoffs. Games continue 2nite, Sunday
B次元官网网址� Victoria B次元官网网址 (@VictoriaB次元官网网址)
The tournament wraps up today, with Team B.C. soon wrapping up the morning semifinal against Red Deer, Alta. and Fredericton, N.B. taking on Sherwood Park, Alta. in the other semi at noon.
The medal round sees the semifinal losers play for bronze at 4 p.m. with the semifinal winners meeting in the gold medal game at 7 p.m.
The Mavericks, who opened the tournament 0-2 with losses to Fredericton (10-4) and Tecumseh, Ont. (6-1), rebounded for a 4-3 win over Red Deer, but needed other teams to help their bid for a playoff spot.
That didnB次元官网网址檛 happen, as Tecumseh beat Manitoba 3-2 and Red Deer beat New Brunswick 4-2 Saturday.
B次元官网网址淲e knew going in that we didnB次元官网网址檛 have a chance, but we wanted to give the fans a show for showing their support all week long, and we think we gave them a good last game of the tournament for us,B次元官网网址� said Mavericks league veteran Lanny Burrows. B次元官网网址淭hat was the first game where we really broke out offensively as a group, and itB次元官网网址檚 great to watch.B次元官网网址�
Down 4-3 to Manitoba in the top of the seventh, Victoria built a solid 7-4 lead on three straight singles, a sacrifice fly by Duncan Blades and a towering three-run home run over the left field wall by NanaimoB次元官网网址檚 Liam Goodall, who finished the day with six runs batted in.
But Manitoba hit Mavericks pitcher Cooper Misic hard in the bottom of the inning, and tied the game on a big three-run homer by Brendan Gaunt.
Sent to an extra inning, the Mavericks responded again. Kevin Biro smacked a leadoff homer to provide the ultimate winning run, then his teammates added four more hits, with Goodall adding to his totals with a two-run single.
Victoria reliever Mitch Davidoff gave up an opening hit to Manitoba, but shut them down in order, with the Mavericks turning a double play to end the game.
B次元官网网址淚t seemed to be the theme of the week for us, after we got a lead the [other] team would come back with a home run of their own,B次元官网网址� Burrows said. B次元官网网址淪o, we were battling all week but we showed good character coming out on top there.B次元官网网址�
Mavericks head coach Dave Diachuk appreciated the offensive sparks, but knew his team needed to find their offence sooner to have a chance at making the playoffs for this tournament.
B次元官网网址淭he pitching is top-notch. ThereB次元官网网址檚 a lot of guys that can hit and when you make a mistake they make you pay for it,B次元官网网址� he said.
B次元官网网址淲e kind of thought our bats were going to catch up a little quicker. We knew we were going to be rusty at the start cause of a lag between playoffs and [nationals]. Guys were playing to try and stay in shape and keep up with it. I thought we really started hitting the ball well in the last half of the tournament.B次元官网网址�
With Baseball Canada and the Victoria organizing committee having agreed to host the tournament here in 2018, it gives the host group a chance to further fine tune things on the field, Diachuk added. B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e going to try and build another squad up next year and hopefully weB次元官网网址檒l be more productive early in the tournament and later on as well.B次元官网网址�
Diachuk said heB次元官网网址檚 been to many nationals and hadnB次元官网网址檛 seen a better-run event, with B次元官网网址渇irst-class facilities.B次元官网网址� He gave kudos to the committee led by Jim Swanson or the Victoria HarbourCats, and the field operations crew.
