Expos Draw With Chilliwack 7-7 (9 Innings) in First Game of the 2016 RCBA Queen Victoria Invitational

It definitely was not the start Vancouver Minor was looking for in the 2016 RCBA Queen Victoria Invitational. The Expos came out flat in this Thursday night contest, defensive and mental miscues were at the forefront for the Expos and despite all the mistakes Vancouver was able to manage a tie versus Chilliwack 7-7 in 9 innings.

Chilliwack 7 EXPOS 7 (9 innings)

Inomata got the start in the contest versus Siemens of Chilliwack. The Cougars jumped on the board early thanks in part to an error in LF to kick off the game, the first of seven errors committed by the Expos in this one. Inomata was dominant all game, he knew he had to go 95 due to his absence from the rest of the tournament games and he did just that and more. However, even 8 innings pitched by Inomata wouldn't get him a win as the Vancouver bats didn't wake up until halfway through the ballgame; in addition, the inexperience from some of the players at their positions showed as Chilliwack were handed the majority of their runs to them. Despite the shoddy defense, the Expos managed to scratch and crawl to get even with Chilliwack, down 0-3 in the 4th with 2 outs, Hutchings hit an RBI triple and Domingo directly followed that up with an RBI single cutting the deficit to 1 run. Suarez would tie the game in the 6th with a two-strike single up the middle that plated Antiporda. The 8th inning (now modified International Rules) had Chilliwack score 3 runs on 2 errors, it looked like the game was over but the bottom half of the inning saw Antiporda crack a 2 run triple off Dykstra followed by a RBI groundout by Inomata to tie things up yet again heading into the final (9th) inning, all of this under a 2 hour time limit. The 9th inning again started off with an defensive error and after a gutsy relief job by Suarez (only 1.67 innings pitched coming into today's game) to get 2 outs, Yam opted to go with Howse to face Chilliwack's 9 batter. Howse plunked the 9 batter with the bases loaded to plate the go ahead run, he would then settle down to retire Ty Hall for the final out. The Expos would scratch across a run again to tie the ballgame with a perfectly executed safety squeeze by Domingo to score Inomata; however, Vancouver was unable to get one more across as they would strand the winning run at 3rd to end the game.

MVP: #28 Yoshiki Inomata

97 pitches, 8 innings, 5 hits, 3 runs (2 earned) and 10 Ks

The Expos will have a BP and bullpen session in between round-robin games (Friday) and will be back at it on Saturday (2pm Blundell South). Vancouver Minor will need to be a lot sharper against an Abbotsford Angels squad who you can expect will have their 'A' game.

For all scores, standings, pitch counts and more check out the tournament central page at: 

http://www.ballcharts.com/team/?team=richmondchuckers&pg=custom&id=3624