A two-out, two-run double in the seventh inning snapped a tie and lifted the visiting Victoria Mariners to a 4-2 B.C. Premier Baseball League victory over the Quality Foods Parksville Royals Friday at Springwood Park in Parksville.
The win capped a doubleheader sweep for the Mariners, followed a 9-7 slugfest victory in the teams’ opening game. Both games were tied going into the seventh and final inning before Victoria scored to clinch the wins.
The Royals will have this weekend off before returning to close out their regular season home schedule with a pair of doubleheaders July 16-17 at Springwood Park.
They will wrap up the regular season with a road trip to Langley the following Tuesday for a make-up of a doubleheader rained out last month.
Mariners 4, Royals 2
The Royals tied the game 2-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning when Kieran Bowles rapped a two-out single to drive in Kiran Carcary, who had walked, moved to second on a balk and advanced to third on a passed ball.
But Victoria regained the lead with two runs in the top of the seventh on a pair of singles and Jesse Mycock’s two-out, two-run double off Parksville reliever Robbie Dhut.
Dhut had entered the game in the fifth inning in relief of Matt Stevenson and pitched two hitless innings before the Mariners struck for the winning runs.
Liam Janzen went 2-for-3 for the Royals, including an RBI double in the bottom of the first — his third run-scoring double of the afternoon — that briefly tied the game 1-1. Zach Waddington singled and scored for the Royals.
Mariners 9, Royals 7
A pair of errors led to a three-run outburst in the seventh inning as the Mariners took the lead against the Royals’ bullpen and held on for the win.
Parksville had taken a 6-5 lead with four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, keyed by Janzen’s second RBI double of the game.
The Mariners tied it with a single run in the sixth off Royals starter Adam McKillican, then add three runs, two of them unearned, against relievers Jamie Roberts and Janzen to take a 9-6 lead in the top of the seventh.
Parksville got one of the runs back in the bottom of the inning, when Jaydan Saban singled home Waddington for his third RBI of the game and team-leading 15th of the season.
Waddington, Janzen and Bowles each collected two hits in the loss. McKillican struck out nine batters in his six innings of work, in which he surrendered six runs, four of them earned.
—NEWS Staff