Kurt Horne鈥檚 return to the Victoria Eagles鈥� roster was a triumphant one on Saturday afternoon.
The national junior team pitcher tossed eight solid innings, allowing just a couple of hits in a 1-0 victory over the North Delta Blue Jays in sa国际传媒 Premier Baseball League play at Lambrick Park.
鈥淚t was lots of fun, lots of excitement,鈥� Horne said after the win, his first of the year as he has been away with the national program. 鈥淚t was a pretty good outing. I think I had only pitched three previous innings, and that鈥檚 eight added on now.
鈥淚 haven鈥檛 spent a lot of time here, but I鈥檝e had fun while I鈥檓 here. It鈥檚 great to play with my home team and all of my friends.鈥�
The 16-year-old Grade 11 student at Edward Milne Secondary in Sooke returned a few weeks ago from a Team sa国际传媒 camp in the Dominican Republic and didn鈥檛 have the opportunity to pitch for the Eagles until Saturday. He and his junior national teammates will head to Toronto and New England at the end of the month.
sa国际传媒 will also venture to Australia and then Taiwan, where they will eventually compete in the world junior championship from Aug. 30 to Sept. 8 in Taichung.
鈥淚 love it. It鈥檚 fun playing the sport that you love. As a kid I dreamed of playing for my country,鈥� the six-foot-five, 185-pound left-hander said of his national and international adventures. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a huge honour and a great confidence builder. I鈥檓 almost at a loss for words from the experiences. I鈥檝e loved every minute of it.鈥�
On Saturday, the Eagles loved every second of his performance.
鈥淐oming back from the national junior team, he has a lot of confidence right now. He鈥檚 in the zone, his velocity is up, and that makes him hard to hit. He did a heck of a job today,鈥� said Eagles manager Gautam Srivstava.
鈥淗e kept us in the game, a game where we weren鈥檛 offensively putting anything together. He kept us in it long enough to allow us to put something together and pull out the victory.鈥�
The Eagles scored in the bottom of the eighth inning when Kyle Murai singled, advanced to third on Vinny Martin鈥檚 single and eventually scored on a wild pitch from Ryo Takenaka, who went the distance for the Blue Jays.
In Game 2, the Eagles fell 3-1 to slip to 14-12 in the standings.
Srivstava鈥檚 crew will entertain the Abbotsford Cardinals (14-11) in a doubleheader today beginning at noon at Lambrick. It鈥檚 a team they are attempting to catch and surpass for fifth place.
鈥淲e鈥檇 like to create some distance between us and the teams below us,鈥� Srivstava said. 鈥淎bbotsford is right there ahead of us, so it鈥檚 important for us to take it into [today].鈥�
Meanwhile, the Victoria Mariners were off on Saturday and will take on the same Blue Jays this afternoon in a Father鈥檚 Day twin bill starting at noon at Henderson Park. The Mariners are 21-10 and in third place in the BCPBL, riding a two-game win streak and an impressive 8-2 run in their last 10.
The Mariners took two from the North Delta squad on the mainland just last weekend, winning 7-6 and 9-0.
The two Victoria teams will then hook up Thursday night as Horne is expected to make another appearance before he heads east.
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