The Quality Foods Parksville Royals earned their first win of the season as they beat the Victoria Mariners on Sunday afternoon 4-3.
In a game that went right down to the final inning, the Royals would put one on the board in the final frame, giving them their first win on the young season.
In total, the Royals played four games this past weekend, two close games on Saturday afternoon against the Abbotsford Cardinals, losing 3-0 and 4-3, while splitting wins on Sunday with the Mariners, beating them 4-3 and
losing 11-6.
“We played pretty good,” head coach Dave Wallace said. “We had good pitching all weekend, they all gave us a chance to win all of our games.”
“Saturday we weren’t able to capitalize on the chances we had and Sunday we played much better, we hit the ball well and did a lot of things right offensively. We just need to make sure we can take advantage of the good situations we put ourselves in and really give ourselves the best chance to win ball games.”
Liam Janzen played the role of hero on Sunday, having a huge day at the plate for the Royals.
Janzen drove in the winning run against the Mariners, his second RBI of the game.
He had three RBIs in the second, losing, game against the Mariners.
Zack Senay picked up his first win of the season on Sunday, pitching in relief of starter Adam McKillican who went five innings, giving up two unearned runs on three hits while striking out four batters.
Owen Kelly kicked off the weekend for the Parksville Royals on the mound with another solid outing, pitching seven innings and giving up three runs on four hits while striking out 10 batters.
It’s something that coach Wallace is used to seeing out of Kelly every time he takes the mound and this weekend was no different.
“Owen’s a workhorse for us,” Wallace said. “He is going to give you a chance to win the ballgame every time he’s out there on the mound.”
“His confidence kept growing with each start last season and he’s to the point now where he gets out there and knows he’s going to throw a strong game.”
The Royals ran in to some injury trouble before their first game of the weekend on Saturday as outfielder Ethan Fox went down with an injury in warm up, leaving one of their big bats out of the lineup for all four games this past weekend.
Also out of the lineup was Jacob Ingersoll, who is recovering from a broken nose after being on the receiving end of a grounder that took a bad hop.
Outfielder Jayden Saban, a 17-year-old from Powell River, had a solid outing at the dish this weekend, going 3-7 on Saturday and 3-8 on Sunday.
The Royals are back in action this weekend with another double header at home, as they play host to the always dangerous Langley Blaze on Sunday, April 26.
First pitch is slated for 11 a.m., with game two scheduled for 1:30 p.m.