It was Lambrick Park diamonds on a sunny, yet windy day, but it might as well have been your favourite fishing hole where you create the story of the one that got away.
The Victoria Eagles were up 3-1 heading into the final inning against the Nanaimo Pirates in Game 1 of a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon. But Victoria allowed two runs to tie and then had their own potential winning run tagged out at home plate in the bottom of the seventh.
The Eagles eventually let it slide away, like a slippery salmon slithering through your grasp, in a 5-3 extra-inning loss to the Pirates in B.C Premier Baseball League play.
鈥淚t happens. It鈥檚 baseball. You can鈥檛 really control it, so you just have to go out and do it again next time,鈥� said Eagles starting pitcher Eric Hegadoren, who had 13 strikeouts over six innings.
鈥淚t felt good. I鈥檇 like to have thrown a few more strikes. It would have made me happier, so I could cut down the pitch count a little bit, but it鈥檚 nice to go out there and give your team a chance to win. That鈥檚 all you can do. All in all, we played pretty well,鈥� the six-foot-10 right-hander said.
Hegadoren left the game with a 3-1 lead as his Eagles teammates battled with three runs in the sixth to eliminate a 1-0 deficit in the top of the inning.
Riley Edmonds came on in relief and the Pirates managed to claw their way back into the game with two runs in the seventh.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e a scrappy team,鈥� Eagles coach Chris Van Rossum said of the Pirates. 鈥淚t was like we were an inning before that. It鈥檚 too bad a couple of those balls fell in. There were a couple of bloopers here and there and it puts you in a bad position.鈥�
The Eagles fought back in the bottom of the seventh when Zane Takhar鈥檚 hit to right field had fielder Will Wild on his horse and heading for home when Lee Martin gunned him down at the plate with catcher Braeden Mosseau applying the tag in the collision.
鈥淭he hit by Zane down the line; I鈥檓 following the ball and I鈥檓 sending the runner,鈥� said Van Rossum. 鈥淢aybe he didn鈥檛 get a good enough jump, and that could be on me as well. I could have held him up with no outs and a guy on third.
鈥淏ut I thought, with Will, he鈥檚 one of our faster runners, and I thought we wouldn鈥檛 have a problem [scoring]. He [Martin] made a great play, a great throw and a lot of things have to happen right for that to work.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 see it happen all the time where guys are right there with their throws.鈥�
Fortune just did not smile on the Eagles in that first game, but the hosts bounced back for a 4-1 win in Game 2.
As for the Pirates, they were thrilled to see the comeback in Game 1: 鈥淚 might go buy a lottery ticket after that,鈥� Pirates manager Doug Rogers said.
But they also benefited from Martin and Mosseau鈥檚 great defensive play.
鈥淗e doesn鈥檛 play the outfield that much so it was great to see him come up and throw there,鈥� Rogers said of Martin. 鈥淭hat game is over if [Wild] scores. That kept us in it and then we had some timely hits in the end to get there.鈥�
Luke Skingle also went the distance to earn the win on the mound for Nanaimo in the opener.
Meanwhile, the Victoria Mariners split their two road games against the Okanagan Athletics, losing 16-8 and winning 13-12.
