Cardinals Complete Interior Trip Sweep for 2nd Year in a Row and Improve to 6-1 This Season
Posted April 23, 2018
The 2018 West Coast Cardinals squad had the tough task of replicating the 4-game interior trip sweep completed by the 2017 team but this year proved to be a much easier task as a healthy 14 players came ready to play and took care of business. Yuen and Hendriks proved to be yet again almost untouchable on the mound on Saturday while the Cardinal offence exploded for 30 runs on Sunday.
Interior Trip Sweep ✔
CARDINALS 9 Kamloops 4
The two teams traded a pair of runs in their respective halves of the first inning. The top of the Cards’ order loaded the bases in the top half, Rogers and Tong trotting home on a couple of pass balls with two outs and Suzuki at the plate. The defense didn’t help out starting pitcher Yuen in the bottom half, as they gave the two runs right back on an overthrow from third base that would have been the final out of a scoreless inning. In the top of the 3rd, the Riverdogs’ starter Bradley lost command of everything. The Cards put 4 more runs on the board despite only having one hit in the inning, a single by Lefebvre. The lefty starter from Kamloops walked five batters in the inning before leaving the game with two out, his team behind 5-2. Mitchell Coxon came in to relieve the southpaw to walk in the Cards’ 6th run of the game before finally recording the final out of the inning. He would shut the Cards down for the next two innings before handing the ball off to his twin brother, Matthew Coxon for the final two innings. Still 6-2 in the 7th, the Cards would get the bats going again and put this one out of reach. Hendriks, leading off an inning for the fourth time in the game, started the rally with a single. He wasted no time in swiping second base, and would score from second on an overthrow by the Riverdogs’ shortstop. Tong then ripped a liner up the middle that the centre fielder made a terrific diving effort for, but the ball dropped and rolled in behind him for an RBI triple. Lefebvre capped off the 3-run inning with an RBI groundout on the first pitch he saw, bringing home pinch runner Lamourea. Yuen was steady and efficient on the mound in his start, going 6 2/3 while striking out six. Duncan-Wu got the final out for the Cards after two meaningless runs came home on a couple pass balls. The Cards scored 9 runs on just 6 hits, taking game 1 by a score of 9-4. - JO
CARDINALS 10 Kamloops 0
The Cards let the bats do all the talking in the back end of the doubleheader. Hendriks, Rogers, Lefebvre and Suzuki each punched out singles in the top of the 1st, Lefebvre driving in one and Suzuki driving in two to give the Cards an early 3-0 advantage. In the 2nd, Giesbrecht drew a 1-out walk and scored all the way from first on the very next pitch, as Hendriks notched an RBI with a double to the right-centre gap. Next up was Rogers, who put up a textbook AB, watching a borderline 2-0 strike go by, followed by a unselfish take letting Hendriks swipe 3rd with no contest then promptly hitting the 2-2 offering up the middle for an RBI single. Rogers would later come around to score thanks to a throwing error by the Riverdogs’ shortstop, capping off a second consecutive 3-run inning for the Cards. Meanwhile, Hendriks was in complete control for 5 innings on the hill. The only hit he allowed came with two out and nobody on in the 1st – yet another strong outing, picking up 7 more strikeouts along the way. Yuen and Suzuki teamed up to tack on an extra run for the Cards in the 5th, as Yuen launched a double to the left field fence, stole third, then scored on a sac fly by Suzuki, his third RBI of the game. Kamloops’ pitching imploded once again in the 6th, handing out 4 more free passes to the bottom of the Cards’ order. They’d post their third 3-run inning of the game, doing so this time without a hit, stretching this one into mercy range if the Cards could shut down the Dogs in the bottom half of the inning. McRae was lights out in his brief relief appearance, and the Cards were off to a 2-0 start on the interior trip, 10-0 the final in game 2. - JO
CARDINALS 12 Kelowna 2
The Cards sent Duncan-Wu to the hill in their first contest against Kelowna this year. Duncan-Wu has been very effective on the mound so far this year and was looking to continue his recent success. Kelowna sent big right-hander Clark Swift to toe the rubber against Duncan-Wu. A tough task for any opposing starter was dealing with West Coast's leadoff hitter Hendriks and Hendriks proved to be a nuisance once again drawing an 8 pitch walk which included 4 foul balls in the AB. With 1 out, Hendriks on 3rd and Tong on 1st, Przybyl (Kelowna head coach) had his catcher pull off a fake throw to 2 which fooled Hendriks at 3rd and had him caught in a pickle. A hesitation and errant throw by the Kelowna 3rd baseman in the rundown had Hendriks head-first hook sliding safely into home and Tong advanced to 3rd on the play. Clean-up hitter Lefebvre wasted no time cashing in Tong from 3rd depositing an RBI single into left (one of Lefebvre's 5 hits on the day). A Suzuki RBI groundout made it quick 3-0 lead for the Cardinals after a half inning of play. Duncan-Wu's counterpart Swift would get a run back for him and his Kelowna squad with an RBI of his own pulling the Sun Devils within 2 after a 1 complete.
The bottom of the 2nd saw Duncan-Wu continue to fight his command as 2 hits and 2 free passes loaded the bases with 2 outs. #7 wearing the Cardinals' sublimated jersey would get Williams chasing a curveball in the dirt but the ball got away from Lefebvre whose throw was off the mark at 1st bringing Kelowna within a run. Duncan-Wu would get leadoff hitter Ribbink to line out to Yuen at centre keeping it 3-2 Cards after 2.
That's as close as the Sun Devils would get in this game as the Cards broke out for a big 6 run 3rd. 2 RBI SAC bunts, RBI singles from Yuen, Waters and 2 balks that scored runs added up to a 9-2 lead for the visitors and they never looked back. Duncan-Wu settled in ending with a quality line you can't be upset with (5 IP 7 H 2 R 1 ER 6 K). Giesbrecht put the nail in the coffin as the 2017 Tri-City Indians Bantam AA alumnus smacked a hard 2 RBI single into right scoring both McRae and Hendriks with ease making it a 12-2 lead and eventual mercy victory for the boys from Vancouver/Coquitlam. - LY
CARDINALS 18 Kelowna 1
With Delta Orange just completing their 4 game interior sweep before the start of the Cardinals' 4th and final game of the weekend, West Coast knew they needed to match their top rivals to keep pace with their now 8-0 record to begin the season. The final score of this one didn't represent the first two innings at all as Kelowna sent lefty Blake Court to the mound who went on to strike out the Cardinal side in the top half of the 1st. Rogers got the ball for West Coast in this one and was looking to bounce back after a couple sub-par starts. Kelowna wasn't making it easy on Rogers as they walked once and put up 2 hits scoring the first run in this one and giving themselves a 1-0 lead after 1. The bottom of the 2nd saw the Cards' frustration mount even more as after a leadoff single by Vancouver-native Heilker, he was erased on the basepaths thanks to a sharp line drive off the bat off Maunahan snagged by Kelowna first baseman Gross who easily doubled up Heilker who was moving the other direction. Nagatomo was granted a 4-pitch walk but was promptly also erased on the basepaths as he was caught looking the other direction as lefty Court picked the Cardinal catcher off at 1st. The Cardinals' coaching staff voiced thier displeasure with the effort given by the boys rocking the striped sublimated jerseys urging them to pick up their effort and focus.
The boys from Vancouver/Coquitlam responded to the challenge by putting up a 6 spot in the 3rd. Lamourea got the ball rolling for the Cards tying the game up single-handedly: leadoff walk, advanced to 3rd on an error by the pitcher, then scored on a wild pitch. Giesbrecht and Hendriks both had base knocks and eventually made their way to 2nd and 3rd setting up the turning point of the game. With runners at 2nd and 3rd and none out, Yam opted to squeeze and Rogers executed a perfect one down the 3rd base line scoring Giesbrecht and Hendriks with ease thanks to an ill-advised throw from the Kelowna defence. It didn't stop there as Lefebvre walked on 4 pitches and both Rogers and Lefebvre scored on a huge 2 run double from 2017 Vancouver Minor Peewee AAA alumnus Wylie Waters. Speaking of the 2017 Vancouver Minor Peewee AAA Expos, another member from that provincial winning team, Matthew Maunahan drove his teammate in from 2nd with a double of his own to deep left field making it 6-1 Cards after 3 complete.
The offensive onslaught wouldn't stop there as West Coast would cross the plate 12 times in the next two offensive innings. Lefebvre would leadoff the 5th with his 3rd of 3 doubles on the day, eventually brought home by Waters who was due for a big day. Vancouver resident #12 Wylie Waters broke out in a huge way going 4-7 at Edith Gay today with 2 doubles 4 runs scored 5 RBIs and going 4/5 with runners in scoring position. 6 straight singles from the Cardinals scored 6 runs. McRae would make it a 14-1 lead with a 2 RBI single of his own followed by the blow of the century. Duncan-Wu in his first appearance of the year as a left-handed batter smacked a first-pitch triple past the first-base bag fair that rolled to the fence for a 2 RBI triple. Waters and Maunahan would add to their massive days at the plate with an RBI double and single respectively. After all was said and done, Przybyl and his Kelowna squad was looking up at a 18-1 deficit punctuated by a 11 run 5th inning outburst by the Cardinals' offence.
Lost in the offensive fireworks was Rogers who quietly and eventually settled in on the bump ending up with a quality pitching line (4 IP 3 H 1 R 1 ER 4 K) as he'll look to continue building off the latter half of this outing when he faces Richmond on Sunday. McRae would see mound action for the 2nd time in 2 days, cleaning up the 5th inning much like how he cleaned up the final inning yesterday vs. Kamloops in a 10-0 drubbing of the Riverdogs. McRae would go on to strike out the side as the Cards for the second straight year would sweep the interior trip this time in much less exciting fashion. -LY
The West Coast Cardinals will resume their Apr 14th suspended game vs. Richmond on Sunday at Blundell Park with the scheduled double-header vs. the Chuckers set to follow the suspended game. With Richmond, Kelowna and Chilliwack on the upcoming schedule, the Cards will now look to players on their 14-man roster with less than 10 innings pitched to throw the bulk of the innings these next 2 weeks.