The Parksville Royals looked solid in their first two games but came out on the losing side, dropping two games 9-6 and 8-7 to the Victoria Eagles.
The Eagles, 2013 B.C. Premier Baseball League champions, found themselves up early in game one of the doubleheader. The Royals were down 2-0 after the first inning thanks to three errors that led to the two runs being scored.
Quick to erase that inning from their memory, the Royals’ bats came alive in the top of the second inning, answering with six runs of their own to make it 6-2 for the Royals. Liam Janzen got the party started by reaching on an error and then moved into scoring position thanks to a single by Braxten Barnes. Dean Layland followed that up with a single of his own, loading the bases for Ethan Fox.
Fox came through with a single, allowing Janzen to score to cut the lead to 2-1. Jaret Knowles then tied it up with another single, scoring Barnes. Owen Kelly reached base on another Eagles error, allowing Leyland to score. With the bases still loaded, Keller Anderson stepped up to the plate and delivered a bases clearing double, upping the Royals lead to 6-2.
Evernden threw two shutout innings but then faltered in the bottom of the fourth, giving up five more runs to end his day on the mound. Colton Tuka came on in relief for Evernden and gave up one run in one inning pitched, giving the Eagles the 9-6 lead in the sixth inning, which they held on to for the win.
“Our bats really came alive for us, especially in that second inning. It was nice to see them dig deep like that and put the bat on the ball,” assistant Bruce Biro said. “We just need to put it all together through seven innings, improve the defense and pitching and we’ll be a real threat out there.
Game two saw the Eagles scoring a run in the first inning off starter Owen Kelly, but again the Royals had an answer the next inning as Keller Anderson scored on a past ball, knotting the game at 1-1. Ethan Fox had a sacrifice fly to score Cory Bukauskas to make it 2-1 Royals. Liam Ballance made it 3-1 Royals in the fourth inning as he delivered an RBI double.
Down 8–4, the Royals tried to stage a comeback in the top of the seventh, as Jacob Ingersoll drove in a run and two more runs came in unearned. The Eagles shut the door on the comeback for the Royals, finishing them off by a 8-7 final.
“We were able to execute a lot of things offensively, being able to come back and show some resilience was nice to see from the team,” Biro said. “Our defense was a little relaxed at times and that showed. If we can improve on not putting ourselves in positions where we give up runs, we should see a much better game all around for ourselves.”