SPORT
Wednesday, July 24, 2013 - North Shore News - A35
YOUR NORTH SHORE GUIDE to THE GAMES PEOPLE PLAY
NEWS photos Paul McGrath
EMERSON Dohm of the North Shore Twins strokes a hit against the Victoria Eagles in their playoff series held Saturday and Sunday at Parkgate Park. The Twins hit well on the weekend but couldn’t slow down Victoria’s offence as the Eagles scored an upset 2-1 series win.
Twins topped in playoff shootout
Bats come alive for Victoria Eagles in high-scoring upset Andy Prest aprest@nsnews.com
IF you could go back in time to last Friday and tell the North Shore Twins that they were going to score 23 runs in their bestof-three series against the Victoria Eagles starting the following day, they’d probably start searching online for hotel rooms for the provincial championship final four tournament.
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After all, the Twins relied on excellent starting pitching and strong defence to help them finish third in the B.C. Premier Baseball League with an impressive 3018 record. That showing earned the team the right to host their opening round playoff series against the sixth-place Eagles but, in the end, home field and hot bats still weren’t enough to get the Twins through to the finals. The Twins got knocked around by Victoria in a 12-7 loss to open the series, rebounded for an 8-2 win in Game 2 but fell 9-8 in a dramatic, wild west shootout to end the series Sunday afternoon at picturesque Parkgate Park. The bats were there in every game but the Twins weren’t able to shut down the Eagles in the field. Twins head coach Larson Bauck played the time machine game himself moments after bringing his disappointed team together for an end-of-season meeting. “If you would have told me before the weekend that our pitching would have been our downfall, I would have told you you’re full of it,” he said. “But at the end of the day, it was the story. . . . It came down to pitching and defence and we just didn’t do it.” Game 1 was over in a hurry as the Eagles scored eight runs, all with two outs, in the second inning to take a 9-0 lead and then pushed their advantage to 11-0 in the third. Twins centre-fielder Tristan Graham hit a grand slam in the fifth to make the score respectable at 12-7 but that’s how it would end, Clark Grisbrook taking the loss and Victoria’s Kurt Horne earning the win. In game 2 the Twins put their ace on the mound and cruised to victory. Lefty Brad Smith, coming off a 10-win season, struck out four Eagles while allowing just one run on four hits and a walk in five innings. Catcher Riley MacDonald led the way at the plate with a 2-4 day, scoring one run while collecting three RBIs. Left-fielder Griff Goyer also had a nice game, scoring once and adding two RBIs while going 1-2 with two walks. The win set up Sunday’s sudden death showdown and the Twins actually got a dream start, scoring six runs in the bottom of the first to take an early 6-1 lead. The Eagles, however, spent the rest of the afternoon chipping away at the lead, scoring at least one run in every inning until the seventh. Victoria finally caught up on a squeeze bunt with one out and runners on the corners in the fifth inning — the Twins fielded the ball cleanly but the throw to home plate sailed over the catcher’s head. One batter later Kyle Muri gave the
NORTH Shore relief pitcher Leo Metcalf was called upon early in game 1 after Victoria took a big lead. Eagles the lead for good with a two-out, two-run bloop single. The teams traded runs in the sixth, giving Victoria a 9-7 lead heading into the final inning. The Twins finally put up a zero in the top half and Emerson Dohm made it interesting in the bottom half when his two-out triple scored Mitch Grisbrook. But with the tying runner on third, Victoria’s powerful closer Brandon Feldman struck out Clark Grisbrook to end the game and the season for the Twins. Brandon Chernoff took the loss while Victoria’s Riley Edmonds survived his disastrous first inning and earned the win by shutting out the Twins over the next four frames. “We just didn’t play well enough today to win a baseball game,” said Bauck, adding that the team didn’t respond well to the big lead they racked up in the first inning. “We walked the leadoff guy the next inning,” he said. “When you get a five-run lead and it’s early in the game you’ve got to be aggressive and go after hitters. We didn’t do a good enough job of doing that today.” Leadoff runners, in fact, were a huge part of Victoria’s methodical comeback, said Bauck. “Their leadoff hitter got on the first six innings, we couldn’t get the leadoff guy See Eagles page 36