Cardinals Leave Kamloops On a High Note: Saturday's Consolation Win Over Vancouver Community Places Them 5th In This Year's BLE BoW Spring Classic

Posted April 15, 2017


Cardinals Leave Kamloops On a High Note: Saturday's Consolation Win Over Vancouver Community Places Them 5th In This Year's BLE BoW Spring Classic

The Cards took to the field a bit earlier on Saturday than they would have liked, finding themselves in the 2nd place consolation game after not receiving the help they needed within Pool B to qualify for the semi-finals. Their opponents would be the Vancouver Community Mounties, who finished 2nd in Pool C and whose bats came alive on Friday as a result of electing to begin each batter with a 1-1 count. This match-up turned out to be a great opportunity for the Cards to see the Mounties in action, as they would not face them again until their final four games of the regular season at the end of June.

CARDINALS 5 VancouverCommunity 2

The Cards wasted no time nabbing a lead in the top of the 1st, taking advantage of a hit-by-pitch and a walk to first two hitters Turnbull and Suzuki. Crozier once again reached on a botched PFP and Turnbull came around to score from 2nd base. Two batters later, Symons would drive in Suzuki with a single and advance Crozier to 3rd, who would later cap of a 3-run first inning by scoring on a wild pitch. Crozier then took to the mound in the bottom half for the first time in two weeks, but you wouldn’t have known it had been so long by the way he relentlessly pounded the strike zone. He owned the bottom of the zone, tossing four innings of one-hit baseball, and he could have continued for much longer had the coaching staff not wanted to give some other pitchers some work. Symons entered the game in the bottom of the 5th with the score still 3-0 for the Cards and faced some challenges early. A lead-off double quickly came around to score after an overthrow from the Cardinal shortstop. The runner who reached on the error later scored on an RBI groundout to cut the Cards’ lead to a single run. Symons would settle down from there, retiring 5 of the next 6 batters he faced to limit the damage. The Cards responded in the top of the 6th by getting those two runs right back, similar to the 1st inning, capitalizing on a hit-by-pitch and a walk to Fukuoka and Symons. With Kang at the plate, Fukuoka came around to score on a pass ball before Kang knocked in Symons with a single up the middle as the Cards reclaimed their 3-run lead. Kang would come on for the save in the bottom of the 7th, needing only 6 pitches to lock up the win for the Cards.
 
Obviously there wasn’t much on the line for either of the two teams in this contest, and neither team played with an abundance of energy, but the Cards did just what they needed to drive home with their heads held high. One things’s for sure - the boys will have energy in spades this Saturday the 22nd when they play their first home games on the immaculate Bird Field in Port Coquitlam against Frick's Delta Tigers, who are off to a hot 4-0 start to their regular season. Those games will be followed by two more home games at Nanaimo Park in Vancouver against the Abbotsford Angels on Sunday

 



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