It’s going to be a busy weekend, to say the least, as the Quality Foods Parksville Royals play five games this week, with four coming this weekend on the Mainland.
The Royals were in action last night (score not available at press time) in Nanaimo, taking on the Nanaimo Pirates at Serauxmen Stadium. Last time these two teams played, it was the Royals hammering the Pirates for a 10-0 win.
Following the game against the Pirates, the Royals will continue their road swing as they head across the strait to take on the North Delta Blue Jays, who currently sit fourth in the BCPBL with a record of 12 wins and seven losses, on Saturday.
Sunday the Royals will travel to Coquitlam to take on the Coquitlam Reds, who are sporting a 9-19 record and sit one game ahead of the Royals in the standings.
“It’s going to be a busy weekend,” Royals head coach Dave Wallace said. “We’ve got plenty of game action this weekend and we’re going to have lots of players in and out of the lineup as well. We’ll be taking over 14 players and there’s going to be a couple missing with injuries, as well as a few missing because of grad ceremonies.”
“Everyone goes through this stuff at this point in the season and we’ll just have to do what we can to make the most of it.”
The Royals have been trying to make the most through 20 games so far, playing some competitive baseball but coming up on the losing end of things more often than not. It’s a frustrating thing to see but coach Wallace knows it’s also a positive sign that his team can remain that competitive in games week in and week out.
“It’s a double sided story,” Wallace said. “We’re in most of the games we play, which is great considering how little we’ve been putting runs on the board.”
“At the same time, it’s frustrating because you’re right there with the chance to win some games but just can’t quite break through. We just need to keep on working on fundamentals and eventually we’ll break through.”
One constant for the Royals this season has been their pitching, which has seen starters eat up chunks of games and keep opposing teams relatively honest. It’s one of the factors that have allowed the Royals to keep games so close, along with their defense, and continue to give them a shot at winning.
“We’ve been pitching well,” pitching coach Jim Seredick said. “We’re going to have to eat a lot of innings this weekend. We’ve got lots of arms so I think we’ll be fine.”
“From a pitching standpoint, there’s always room for improvement out there. We just need to keep ourselves steady every time out, making sure that we can get the first out every inning out there to help get the ball rolling. Our pitching has been respectable and we just need to figure out a way to get the offense going.”