The Parksville Royals won one game out of three last week with their remaining two games on Sunday canceled by rain.
The Royals beat up the Nanaimo Pirates Wednesday (April 30) 8–5. From there, the Royals traveled to Abbotsford on Saturday to take on the Cardinals, dropping both games of their double header 5-4 and 3-2. This brought the Royals record in the early stages of the BC Premier League Baseball season to three wins and six losses.
Wednesday saw the Royals at home to the Pirates and it was all Royals from the first pitch. Colton Tuka got the start on the mound and earned the win but it was a team effort on the bump as the Royals sent five different pitchers out to face the Pirates.
“That was a good game for us against Nanaimo,” head coach Dave Wallace said. “We jumped on them early on, really hit the ball well in the first two innings and moved the runners around. We were able to capitalize on some mistakes too and having that big first inning really went a long way.”
The Royals scored five runs in the first inning and added one in the second to take a commanding 6–0 lead. It was 7–0 for the Royals before Nanaimo answered with a run of their own in the fifth inning but Andrew Evernden, who went two for two at the dish, drove in Ethan Fox, who went three for three as well, to give the Royals an 8–1 lead.
The Pirates made things interesting late but the Royals were able to shut the door, earning their third win of the young season.
Game one on Saturday had both teams deadlocked up to the fifth inning. The Royals scored three in the fifth and tacked on one more in the sixth for a 4–0 lead. The Cardinals got three runs back in the bottom half, making it 4–3. Abbotsford then tied the game in the seventh to go to extra innings, delivering the game winner in the bottom of the eighth for a 5–4 win.
Game two saw another close battle between the two teams with Abbotsford taking a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning. The Royals answered back in the top of the fourth, scoring two runs of their own to tie the game up, The Cardinals battled back and added another run in the fifth, taking a 3–2 lead and shutting the door on the Royals in the back end of the doubleheader.
“We played real well against Abbotsford. Everyone hit the ball real well and it was nice to see the kids playing a great all around game,” Wallace said. “They’ve been playing with a lot of enthusiasm so far and being a young, athletic team, they’re showing that they can hang in there with anyone.”
The Royals were in Nanaimo on Wednesday (score not available at press time) and are in White Rock on Saturday.