The Nanaimo Pirates won most of their games this past weekend – their only loss came in strange, sudden-death style.
The Hub City Paving Pirates swept the Whalley Chiefs on Saturday at Serauxmen Stadium, 4-1 and 6-4. The next day at Serauxmen the Pirates played the last two innings of a suspended game against the White Rock Tritons, losing 4-3, but shut out the Tritons 5-0 in a rematch.
“That shortened game was a tough one to overcome because it breaks your heart instantly because you only have two innings to try to do something positive…” said Doug Rogers, Pirates manager. “Guys were down.”
The Pirates came out sluggish in the rematch, said the manager, but strong pitching from Devon Geary kept the score 0-0 and the Pirates broke through in the fifth inning with four runs.
Aidan Goodall led the attack, going 2-for-2 with two walks and two RBIs. Tristan Olsen doubled and Geary finished with a complete game three-hitter.
“Our bats have really come around,” said Goodall. “Early in the season we were striking out a lot; we weren’t putting the ball in play … Now we have that hitting, we’re manufacturing runs and our pitchers are pitching great.”
Goodall got the ‘W’ in the first game of the weekend, with Braeden Mousseau going 4-for-4 in that one and Zach Diewert going 2-for-3 with two RBIs. In Saturday’s second game Tom Negrin singled and doubled and drove in three runs, Brady Rogers was 2-for-4 and Alex Rogers threw a complete game, striking out 10 batters.
The Pirates (12-11) have now won five of their last six in addition to winning the B.C.'s Best tournament over the May long weekend.
"We're still on the upward trend, obviously," said Doug Rogers. "We're playing decent baseball, our pitching's good. We still have some things to clean up, which we'll do at practice."
GAME ON … The Pirates host the Parksville Royals (2-13) on Wednesday (May 29) at 6 p.m. at Serauxmen Stadium.
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