After a slip-up in their first game of the sa国际传媒 Premier Baseball League Final Four championship, the North Shore Twins shredded the rest of the field, rattling off three straight victories for the 2015 crown at Royal Athletic Park.
The Twins scored an impressive 52 runs over the three wins, including 40 in two outings against the runner-up Nanaimo Pirates.
North Shore rattled off an 18-7 win over the Pirates in Sunday鈥檚 final, exactly 24 hours after hammering out a 22-4 win in Nanaimo鈥檚 final round-robin game.
The Twins also peppered the Victoria Eagles 12-2 on Saturday night to advance straight through to the championship final, finishing with a 2-1 record after an opening loss to the Okanagan Athletics.
Nanaimo then defeated the Eagles in a controversial 5-2 semifinal victory on Sunday morning.
What clearly looked to be an out at third base 鈥� which would have ended the inning 鈥� was ruled safe to load the bases. Matt Skingle then delivered a three-run, two-out double to blow open a tight game and gave the Pirates a 4-0 lead.
Nanaimo added a fifth run in the sixth inning before Tyson Abbott blasted a two-run home run to left for the Eagles.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got to play from the first pitch on. One call doesn鈥檛 make or break a baseball game. We have seven innings to score,鈥� said Eagles manager Anthony Pluta, who was thrown out of the game for arguing the call, as was second baseman Tanner Hess.
The call did ultimately factor into the result.
鈥淢aybe, but at the same time, that play didn鈥檛 cost a run. If we had stopped dwelling on that play and make the next pitch and make the play after we still have an opportunity,鈥� said Pluta, obviously taking the high road despite video detailing a missed call.
It was a disappointment, just the same for the locals.
鈥淚t is. Obviously, you don鈥檛 like losing, nobody does, but we had a great year,鈥� said Pluta.
As did the Pirates.
Nanaimo鈥檚 North Rainey handcuffed the Eagles with just four hits over seven innings in that game, walking two and striking out four to advance to the final. Victoria鈥檚 Martin Eckard surrendered five runs on eight hits, walking three and striking out six.
In the final, North Shore jumped all over the Pirates with a 13-run third inning to open up a 16-2 advantage that basically ended it. Nanaimo did strike for five runs in the fifth.
Nanaimo defeated Victoria 7-3 and the Okanagan Athletics 2-1 in round-robin play before the 22-4 drubbing.
鈥淵ou obviously don鈥檛 ever want to lose a game like that, but it鈥檚 done. A lot of teams get beat and sometimes you beat up on teams. That鈥檚 baseball,鈥� Pirates manager Doug Rogers said after that loss, preparing his team for the playoffs.
鈥淚f you would have told me at the start of the year that we would be sitting here with a chance to go straight to the final or to the semi-final, I would have taken that.鈥�
The Pirates finished the post-season (eight teams made the opening BCPBL playoffs prior to whittling down to the Final Four) at 5-2, both losses to North Shore. The Twins (5-1) lost their opener in Victoria, 6-5 to Okanagan on Friday.
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