Forget Casey at the bat. Just put a lacrosse stick in his hands and he rarely strikes out around the crease.
Casey Jackson scored four goals to help lead the Victoria Shamrocks to a 13-11 WLA victory over the Langley Thunder before 1,845 fans Friday night at the Q Centre.
Jackson is second in league goals with 32 behind Maple Ridge sniper Curtis Dickson鈥檚 37.
Also scoring four times for Victoria was former NCAA Big Ten Ohio State Buckeyes field-lacrosse star Jesse King. Both Jackson and King had seven points on the night, as King took the league lead in points with 62, versus Dickson鈥檚 61. Jackson moved into a third place tie with 58 points.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a credit to my teammates,鈥� King said.
鈥淭he guys were flying around tonight. [Scoring] all depends on who is feeling the touch.鈥�
Right back at you, said Jackson: 鈥淸King] is a big body who opens up a lot of space for us. I would play alongside him any day of the week.鈥�
While the gilt-edged scorers were humming Friday, the Shamrocks鈥� engine room was compromised with Steve Priolo and Ben McCullough missing.
鈥淭hose guys are big pieces of our team, but the young guys stepped up big time tonight,鈥� said Jackson.
King concurred: 鈥淲e relied on the young guys stepping up.鈥�
That included Zac Christianson, who scored his first career WLA goal with a floor-length dash.
鈥淕uys were stepping in,鈥� said Victoria coach Bob Heyes.
鈥淪ometimes, you have to manufacture wins, which is what we did tonight.鈥�
Rhys Duch had two goals and four points for Victoria while Alec Molander scored twice.
The third-place Shamrocks moved to 7-4 while the sixth-place Thunder, a young team rebuilding through several top-end draft picks the last two years, fell to 4-7-1.
However, this Langley team is going to be an elite squad once it matures.
Dane Dobbie, of the few Thunder veterans and the all-time leading scorer for the NLL pro Calgary Roughnecks, led Langley with two goals and seven points.
Rookie goaltender Jake Sundar, the difference in Langley鈥檚 recent 9-7 upset of the league-leading New Westminster Salmonbellies, was again very good and made 50 saves. Cody Hagedorn was there when needed in blocking 38 shots for Victoria.
The Thunder head up the Trans-sa国际传媒 to play the Nanaimo Timbermen (4-6-1) tonight in Frank Crane while the Shamrocks are in Maple Ridge on Sunday to face the second-place Burrards (7-3-1) at Cam Neely Arena.
