Like a nightmare sufferer who is visited by the same demons every evening, the Quality Foods Parksville Royals let another close game slip away Saturday and saw their B.C. Premier Baseball League losing streak continue in a pair of losses to the North Delta Blue Jays at Springwood Park.
The Royals watched a 2-0 lead slip away in a ragged four-running inning as the Jays eked out a 5-4 win in the opening game, and were simply unable to hit while falling 8-1 in the finale.
The team slumped to 4-22 with two more home games scheduled on Sunday against the Victoria Eagles.
“We play well in spots, but not consistently enough for two games in a day,” Royals head coach Dave Wallace said. “Sometimes not enough for one game in a day.”
The frustration showed in the dugout by the end of the afternoon, and the coaching staff held an extended on-field chat with the players after the final game.
“The second game, we did not compete well,” said Wallace. “And we gave them four runs in the first game due to mental errors.
“The physical errors will happen; you just try to minimize them. But we’re repeating mistakes that we shouldn’t be at this point in the season.”
The Royals struck for two quick runs in the bottom of the first inning of the opener. Thomas Green led off with a single, stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Zach Waddington drew a walk and stole second, and Liam Janzen followed with a two-run single.
But the Blue Jays answered with four runs in the top of the second on four singles. But three of the hits followed a two-out error, and only one of the runs was earned.
Parksville battled back to tie it 4-4 in the third. An error and singles by Jacob Ingersoll and Janzen loaded the bases with one out, and Jaydan Saban and Kieran Bowles followed with back-to-back, run-scoring singles.
But the bases were loaded when the inning ended on a double play grounder.
North Delta snapped the tie in the fifth when a single and a wild pitch allowed Ryder Mavis to score on Logan Newman’s one-out single. A long throw from right field by Ingersoll, which easily beat Newman at the plate for the inning’s final out, kept the margin at one run.
But the Royals could not score the equalizer, and managed just one run over the next 10 innings.
That came when Matt Stevenson singled home Adam McKillican with one of just two Royals hits in the game.