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Mother Nature was the big winner as both Victoria entries in the sa国际传媒 Premier Baseball League opened their home schedules on Saturday, starting off in the sun, moving into rain and eventually experiencing some hail on soggy grounds.
The Victoria Eagles dropped a 2-0 decision to the visiting Whalley Chiefs at Lambrick Park to fall to 1-2 early in the season.
The Victoria Mariners were tied 1-1 after 61脷2 innings before their matchup against the Parksville Royals 鈥� which started an hour later 鈥� was called due to weather. The Mariners will have to make up the last half-inning (or extras) at a later date.
Both local teams were slated to play doubleheaders, but slushy diamonds put a dent in the proceedings.
Brett Hull went 42脷3 innings and allowed three hits and two runs as he posted eight strikeouts 鈥� including four over the first two innings 鈥� for the Eagles, who failed to generate any run support for the right-hander.
鈥淲e got a handful of hits, just not all together. If you can bunch them together, you score runs,鈥� said new Eagles manager Anthony Pluta, a Las Vegas native who played two seasons here with the former Victoria Seals.
鈥淥ur defence was a little shaky, but the weather was a little tough at the same time,鈥� added Pluta, whose Eagles made four errors on the sloppy day.
鈥淲e started out with a bit of sunshine and then got some rain and some hail and more rain and hail, but we both played in the same situations. Their pitcher did an excellent job.鈥�
Yuta Kikuzaki went the distance for Whalley, allowing five hits and had just a single strikeout.
Jason Heckl mopped up for the Eagles, pitching 21脷3 innings, while allowing three hits.
The Eagles had split their opening series in Nanaimo last weekend, losing 3-2 and winning 5-2.
The Mariners were playing their league and home opener at Henderson Park when the umpiring crew called the game midway through the seventh.
鈥淚t looked like it was going to be a goner from the beginning, but from 10 a.m. on it teased us with a bit of nicer weather,鈥� said Mariners鈥� manager Mike Chewpoy, who sent his ace Colton Wood to the mound.
鈥淐olton is our guy. To me, he鈥檚 easily one of the best in the country and definitely No. 1 or 2 in the province,鈥� said Chewpoy. 鈥淲ith our guys today, we didn鈥檛 get a lot of run support.鈥�
Wood went 51脷3 innings, giving up just two hits and collecting nine strikeouts before giving way to Chris Lata.
鈥淗e went 92 pitches on a cold day, you don鈥檛 want to take him much further,鈥� Chewpoy said of Wood.
After allowing the tying run, Wood came out in the sixth and Lata induced a pop-up to first base and a ground ball to third to end the inning. The 15-year-old then got into a jam in the seventh but got Sam Visona to ground out with the bases loaded. The Mariners got the runner at home plate then Lata struck out Alex Hendra-Brown before the umps called it.
鈥淗e did everything we expected out of him in Game 1, which is a good thing, considering we have 47 more to play,鈥� Chewpoy said of Lata.
The Mariners are slated to host Whalley today at noon and 2:30 p.m. at Henderson while the Eagles travel to Parksville for 12:30 and 3 p.m. starts. Weather permitting, of course.
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