Maybe some home cooking will help the cause.
Parksville’s Quality Foods Royals were on the road again last weekend for back-to-back Premier league double headers on the Mainland, and the young squad returns home for a full meal deal this weekend hungry for some wins.
“We’ve played a lot of road games — it’s tough to win on the road at the best of times, and we’re a young team, so yeah, it’s always nice to get back home,” Royals’ skipper Dave Wallace said this week when The News caught up with him, adding they also have yet to field a full team so far this season.
The Royals lost 10-3, 13-3 to the Cardinals in Abbotsford on Saturday, then snapped a 12-game losing streak in game one of Sunday’s double header against the Tritons in White Rock with a 4-1 win.
First year Royal Calvin Sandhu from Vancouver picked up his first complete game win of the campaign and earned BCPBL Player of the Week honors.
“He pitched very well. It wasn’t a dominating 10-strikeout performance by any stretch of the imagination (2SO, 4walks).”
“But he was ahead in the count; he kept the batters off balance (and) he only gave up one hit — a single in the fifth, and that was it.”
Parksville went into the road trip missing starter catcher Mackenzie Parlow who was busy with graduation ceremonies, leaving Liam Joyce to cover catching duties.
“He did an excellent job — he hadn’t caught in a competitive situation for five years, and that’s not easy to do. We were very pleased he volunteered to do it, and very pleased with his performance.”
In the win the Royals scored four runs in the top of the third.
Left fielder Sam Visona sparked the rally with a two-out 2RBI standup double.
Parksville battled hard in game two but came up on the short end of a 2-0 final.
“We played just as well in the 2-0 loss as we did in the 4-0 win — the guys played really well Sunday (and) we played well in the first game Saturday as well, said Wallace, then confirmed, “we’ve got to start picking up some Ws if we want to make that final playoff spot. We’ve got a ways to go,.
“We just have to improve on our consistency and making the plays you’re supposed to make at this level and we’ll have a good shot at it.”
FULL MEAL DEAL
The Royals are back home up at Springwood Park this weekend for a pair of double headers. The pinstripes take to the field against the Cardinals on Saturday (12:15 p.m. start), and host the Coquitlam Reds on Sunday (11 a.m. start).