After getting blown out 11-0 in the first of four games in Victoria last weekend, the North Delta Blue Jays rebounded to win two of the next three to remain in the top eight of the B.C. Premier Baseball League.
The Jays, now at 4-5 (won-lost) on the season, split a pair of double headers against the Victoria Mariners and Victoria Eagles.
North Delta managed just two singles in the first game Saturday, which lasted just five innings after the Mariners scored six runs in the opening inning and had 11 runs by the end of three frames.
The Jays shook off the first game drubbing to hang on for a 6-5 victory in the rematch. Second baseman Clint Taylor paced the North Delta offence with a single, a double and two runs scored.
Shane Wlodarczak was the winning pitcher, allowing five earned runs on seven hits and five walks, collecting eight strikeouts.
Brett Sakaki earned the save, allowing just a walk in one inning pitched.
In the first of two games against the Eagles Sunday morning, the Jays fell behind 5-0 after three innings and went on to a 7-6 loss.
North Delta centre fielder Brad Antchak was a perfect four-for-four at the plate, with Taylor adding another pair of singles. Wlodarczak keyed a Blue Jays rally in the sixth inning with a bases-loaded double to score three runs.
Blue Jays pitcher Sodai Hoshi, an 18-year-old student at L.A. Matheson Secondary, pitched a complete-game six-hitter to get the win in Sunday’s second game.
Hoshi allowed three earned runs while striking out five Victoria batters in the 5-4 victory.
Antchak improved his batting average to .389 with a two-for-four effort at the plate. Wlodarczak had two hits, including his third double of the season, and Sakaki contributed with two singles and a pair of stolen bases. Jordy Cunningham scored twice and drove in two more runs with a double.
North Delta is on the road again next weekend, playing four games in Kelowna against the league-leading Okanagan Athletics.
- The Whalley Chiefs continue to struggle early in the B.C. Premier Baseball League season, losing twice in North Vancouver to the North Shore Twins Saturday afternoon.
The Twins blanked the visitors 10-0 in the first game, then edged the Chiefs 6-5 in game two.
Whalley, which has now lost six straight games, dropped to 1-7 (won-lost).
A two-out single from Will Motley in the third inning was the only offence the Chiefs could manage in game one.
The Twins rocked Whalley pitchers for 14 hits over four innings, leading 3-0 after one inning, 6-0 after two, and 8-0 at the end of three innings.
Whalley was a half-inning away from ending the losing streak in game two, but North Shore crossed the plate twice in the bottom of the seventh inning, then got the winner in the first extra inning.
Brandon Chernoff pitched seven innings for the Chiefs, allowing just two earned runs on seven hits and four walks. Five errors led to three unearned Twins runs.
The Chiefs will be in Coquitlam Saturday, taking to the field against the 4-5 Coquitlam Reds at Mundy Park for a double header. The first pitch is at 11 a.m.
