Ethan Vaton pitched five strong innings and Carter Hall homered and drove in three runs as the Campbell River Mosquito AAA Tyees defeated the Victoria Eagles 6-1 Sunday to clinch second place in the Tier II Island baseball championships.
The runner-up finish clinched the Tyees a spot in this weekend’s Tier II provincial championships in Victoria.
The Tyees opened the Island tourney Saturday with a 20-4 romp over the Comox Cardinals. Breydan Riecker and Owen Lagos each rapped inside-the-park home runs and Lagos added two triples on his way to team MVP honours in the contest. Gareth MacDonald picked up the win on the mound with relief help from Wyatt Dumont, Ryder Plecas and Ryan Deagle.
The Tyees ran into a roadblock in their second game of the round-robin tourney, falling 8-2 to the Duncan Rivercats. Riecker doubled and singled en route to earning team MVP honours for the game, while Wyatt Murray, Riecker and Vaton shared the pitching duties.
Sunday’s matchup with Victoria would determine the final representative to provincials, and the Tyees were up to the task with a mix of offence, defence and pitching.
Hall closed out Vaton’s win with a scoreless inning of relief, and Lagos and Murray each drove in runs with clutch hits. Deagle, MacDonald and Ty Ludwikowski each made sparkling plays in the infield to snuff out any chance at a Victoria rally.
The Tyees return to provincials this weekend as the reigning champions and will attempt to defend their Tier II title.