Cardinals Bounce Back With a Wild Win vs. Cloverdale but Lose a Tight One to Vancouver Community in Day 2 of Baseball BC's 15U AAA Qualifier
Posted July 15, 2017
With a loss to Chilliwack in day 1 of this year's Baseball BC 15U AAA Qualifier (BC Minor Portion), the first game vs. Cloverdale (0-1) just became that much more important. It was a battle, both games were and in the end the West Coast Cardinals are now faced with a do-or-die against the Delta Tigers.
CARDINALS 12 Cloverdale 8
With both teams behind the 8-ball in this qualifier, everyone was hoping for a rematch of game 1 of regular season between these two teams, Domanski vs. Sugi on the mound. West Coast followed through with Sugi but Cloverdale opted to go with the tall righty in Brendan Patterson. Both pitchers were sharp early, it took Patterson 8 pitches to get through the 1st while Sugi walked the leadoff batter and could only watch as Sandes would go 1st to 3rd on a pass ball. Knowing runs were hard to come by for West Coast last game, Yam opted to cut the run off at the plate. With Cloverdale's best all-around player in Logan Domanski looming on deck, Palmer hit a line drive shot to CF where Turnbull would catch the baseball in stride and throw a strike to the plate to nab Sandes at the plate trying to tag up. Domanski would hit a 2-out single but arugably the league's best baserunner would take a seat not long after as Sugi would pick him off at first with a fine move to end the inning.
Nothing came about a leadoff single by Baybay in the 2nd while Sugi made quick work of Cloverdale's 4-5-6 batters by yet again picking off a Spur on base for the final out of the inning. Zeros after 2 complete.
If the first two innings were any indication of how this game was going to go, you would think we had a pitching duel on our hands well the 3rd inning was exactly the opposite. Back-to-back singles by Turnbull and Suzuki to leadoff the inning for West Coast both on 0-2 counts, both singles got past the Cloverdale outfielders and the latter of the two singles + error scored Turnbull for our first run of the game, a gift. Miles while attempting to lay down a bunt was hit by the pitch, bringing up leadoff hitter Hendriks who moved both runners into scoring position with a well-executed SAC bunt. The move paid off as Sugi would lace a double down the right field line scoring both runners with ease. The double by Sugi was followed up by back to back singles by New and Baybay, the latter of the two singles plated Sugi, both runners New and Baybay moved into scoring position thanks to a pass ball. Crozier then continued to add to the offensive explosion with a single to centre scoring both runners but wait! On the throw home to try and get Baybay scoring from 2 on the single, Crozier moved to 2nd then hustled over to 3rd as he noticed the ball got away from the catcher, Vulcano (Cloverdale's catcher) then tried to get the hustling Crozier at 3rd only to airmail his 3rd baseman bringing now a panting Crozier home on the little league inside the park homerun! After the top half of the 3rd, Patterson (7 earned runs in 3 innings) and Cloverdale were appalled at what just took place, Foerster (Cloverdale's head coach) was determined to get them back in this game, and quick. 7-0 Cards after 2 1/2 innings.
WIth runners at 1st and 2nd, 2 out and 1 run in Yam had to make the decision to pull Sugi at 48 pitches in order to be eligible for potential tie-breaker game(s) Sunday or let him run. Yam made the call to go to the 'pen, in what would be the first of 5 relievers to throw in this contest. Powell took to the hill in relief and battled with Palmer at the plate, in the end Palmer would reach on error extending the inning. With Domanski now up, Yam wasn't going to let Powell face Domanski and instead went to the 'pen and opted for the matchup lefty Suzuki against lefty Domanski. The move wouldn't pay off as Domanski would get on top of a hanging curveball depositing it into right field scoring 1 and cutting the deficit to 4. A wild pitch later put two runners into scoring position with the tying run now looming on deck. Vulcano would clutch up and hit a single scoring both Palmer and Domanski cutting the deficit to 2. Suzuki would finally escape the jam as the Cards could breathe a sigh of relief, all 5 of Cloverdale's runs gifted to them with 2 outs in the inning. We suddently had a close ballgame again at 7-5 Cards after 3.
The 4th definitely went smoother than the 3rd, New would hit a 2 out double scoring Miles from 2nd padding West Coast's lead to 3 going into the bottom of the 4th. During the bottom half, Patterson hit a hard double to the gap scoring Sawyer and making it now a narrow 1 run lead for West Coast. With Jung coming to the plate and Suzuki nearing 35 pitches, Yam opted to go to AA call-up Kaleb Adrain with the tying run standing on 2nd and 2 out. Foerster made a quick move to pinch hit LH hitter Donoghue for RH hitter Jung to face the hard throwing righty in Kaleb Adrain. Adrain would win his matchup as he would get Donoghue swinging on a 2-2 fastball to end the threat. 8-6 Cards after 4.
We jump to the bottom of the 5th where Adrain after throwing getting leadoff hitter Sandes to pop up for the first out of the inning was nearing a combined total of 35 over the course of 2 games so Yam opted to go Symons to face the potent Cloverdale bats of Palmer and Domanski. Symons would throw more pitches in warmup than it would take him to close out the 5th as he would get Palmer and Domanski to both pop up doing a masterful job sitting down Cloverdale's 2-3 hitters. Still 8-6 Cards after 5. Symons would come back out for the 6th and get a quick two outs against the heart of the Spurs' lineup. Rowe would reach on a walk with 2 out and promptly steal 2nd and 3rd setting up Sawyer who would clutch up and hit a 2 out 2 strike single scoring Rowe. With the tying run now at 1st, Yam opted to go Miles to control the running game; however, a botched pickoff play and pass ball later had Sawyer (tying run) standing on 3rd with the count of 1-2 on Barrick. Miles would get Barrick swinging on a curve but could only watch as the ball got away from the Cardinal catcher and the throw a tad late to the bag at 1st, Sawyer scoring on the dropped third strike. 8-8 after 6.
With Tanner Rowe still pitching in relief of Patterson and doing an effective job of buying his team time to comeback in this game, the Cardinals' bats finally got Rowe in the top of the 7th. New would get the party started with his 3rd hit of the game, two batters later Crozier would single himself putting two runners on and 1 out. Yuen would breakout depositing a single to right loading it with one out. With Turnbull now up and seeing himself in a different position in the batting order, the change looked to have worked as Turnbull would completely turn his game around from yesterday by playing flawless defence in the outfield taking away hits and nabbing runners at the plate; the aforementioned Turnbull would smack his 3rd hit of the game with the bases loaded plating the go-ahead run. Crozier would score from 3rd on a wild pich while Suzuki would bring home the 11th run for the Cards on a well-executed SAC. Turnbull would score West Coast's 12th and final run on a wild pitch capping off a monster day for Turnbull. Two singles by Cloverdale's 2-3 hitters became moot as Miles would get Vulcano to groundout to Hendriks at first for the final out and ending a wild, wild game. 12-8 Cards the final.
VanComm 7 CARDINALS 6