The VIBI Mariners will battle this baseball season.
Nanaimo’s Vancouver Island Baseball Institute Mariners won just one of four games on the weekend, but made sure they were a tough out.
The M’s started with a 2-0 win against the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack on Saturday at Serauxmen Stadium, but dropped the next three, 11-2, 10-8 and 7-3.
“A couple good outings on the mound, a couple guys had some good at-bats at key spots,” said Nick Salahub, VIBI assistant coach. “It’s just getting it to be consistent. Stringing it together, one guy after the next, is the key to baseball.”
The Mariners showed some of their character in Sunday’s early game, as they were down 10-4 going into the ninth inning and batted around and loaded the bases before the comeback fell just short.
“Every game we’ve played so far this year, I haven’t seen any quit in our guys,” Salahub said. “They’re a good group of kids, they try hard, they want it. It’s just learning how to translate the want into the proper performance.”
In the first game, Austin Penner earned the win as he threw his second-straight complete-game shutout, striking out six along the way. Gobind Sall and Tate Yuzda led the offence, both going 2-for-4 at the plate.
The second game saw six different Mariners hit safely.
In Sunday’s first game, Riley Moskaluk was 2-for-2 with three RBIs and Lucas Galloway also had three RBIs. Tyler Armstrong scored three runs.
In the weekend finale, Moskaluk and Justin Johnston both went 2-for-3 at the dish.
Salahub said it was good to get some different guys on the field Sunday and give them opportunities.
“There’s lots of positives, lots of stuff for us to work on,” he said.
GAME ON … The Mariners are on the road at Kelowna this coming weekend (April 9-10) and will play two games against the University of Calgary Dinos and two games against the Okanagan College Coyotes. Next regular-season home action for the M’s is April 16-17, when they host doubleheaders against the Coyotes at Serauxmen Stadium.
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Here's a gif of that @VIBaseball rundown play… #Nanaimo #baseball pic.twitter.com/FujaJ5Gwwm
— Greg Sakaki (@BulletinSports) April 4, 2016