The VIBI Mariners were ready for the start of baseball season, but Mother Nature wasn’t.
The Vancouver Island Baseball Institute college ball team only got in two of its scheduled four games in Kamloops this past weekend before the diamond got snowed under.
VIBI lost 4-3 and 9-2 to the host Thompson Rivers University WolfPack on Saturday as the Canadian College Baseball Conference season got underway.
The Mariners outhit the Pack in both games, pounding out 19 hits in total during the doubleheader.
In the first game, Connor Merilees and Tyson Dyck both hit a single and a double. Pitcher Connor Russell allowed four earned runs on five hits over six innings and struck out six.
In the second game, Steve MacKinnon was 4-for-5 at the plate with a double and Gobind Sall was 2-for-3 with two walks. Austin Penner gave up three earned runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings.
VIBI had gotten off to a positive start on Sunday before the snowfall, taking a 2-0 lead over the Prairie Baseball Academy Dawgs through three innings. The rest of the doubleheader will be played in Lethbridge, Alta. in late April.
GAME ON … VIBI’s home opener is Saturday (March 29) when it hosts TRU at 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. at Serauxmen Stadium. The teams continue the series Sunday at Serauxmen with games at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.