August 9, 2022

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

British Columbia defeated Ontario 7-6 in front of a boisterous, near capacity crowd at Oakes Park Stadium in Niagara Falls, Ont., at the Canada Summer Games on Tuesday night.

It was the second time in three days that B.C. has downed the Ontario squad in Round-Robin play. B.C. prevailed 7-3 on Sunday night at the Welland Baseball Stadium.

The win gives B.C. a 4-1 record heading into the final day of Round-Robin play on Wednesday. Ontario drops to 2-3 with the loss.

Tuesday’s game was a wild one for pitchers and a painful one for batters. In total, six hitters were plunked - three on each side and B.C. won despite their pitchers walking five batters.

But wins don’t have to pretty and B.C. head coach Anthony Pluta was happy to see his team prevail.

“It’s always a battle against Ontario and they’re a great team and to come out on top is just a good place to be in right now,” said Pluta after the game. “Everyone came through with some clutch hits in some tough spots.”

After each team failed to score in the first two innings, Ontario plated three runs in the top of the third. Brendan Lawson (Toronto, Ont.), Preston Barr (Windsor, Ont.) and David Stanley (Toronto, Ont.) singled to load the bases to begin the frame before Calvin Warrillow (Toronto, Ont.) was hit by a pitch by B.C. starter Daniel Orfaly (Surrey, B.C.) to score the game’s first one. B.J. Peart (Markham, Ont.) singled in another before Nathan King (Lindsay, Ont.) added an RBI ground out to make it 3-0.

But B.C. would respond with five runs in the bottom of the inning. Lucas Laukkanen (Nanaimo, B.C.) had an RBI single, while Cam McLeod (North Vancouver, B.C.) earned an RBI when he was hit in the helmet by a pitch from Owen McMulkin (Ajax, Ont.). Dio Gama (Maple Ridge, B.C.) supplied the biggest hit of the inning when he belted a two-run double over the head of Ontario left-fielder Jorge Valdes (Milton, Ont.) to make the score 5-3.

Ontario countered with a second RBI single from Peart that scored Stanley in the fourth inning to close the gap to 5-4. But B.C. would tally two runs in the bottom half of the frame when Matt McDonald (Kamloops, B.C.) scored on an RBI single from Kenny Scott (Ladner, B.C.). Scott then crossed the plate after Ontario right-hander Aidan Taggart (Grimsby, Ont.) plunked consecutive batters - McLeod and Angelo Franco (Burnaby, B.C.) - with pitches, pushing the lead to 7-4.

Ontario made it a one-run game in the sixth when Lawson, who is a remarkable 9-for-12 with five walks in the tournament, led off with a single. Barr then walked. Left-hander Dylan Myttenar (Vancouver, B.C.) was then called for a balk, moving the runners to second and third with nobody out. Lawson would score on Stanley’s ground out to second, which moved Barr to third base. He then crossed the plate on a Myttenar wild pitch to make it 7-6.

After B.C. failed to add to their lead in the bottom of the sixth, they brought in right-hander Noah Del Rosario (Delta, B.C.) in the ninth. He promptly fanned Veer Wadhwani (Toronto, Ont.) and King and then got Valdes to ground out to second base to end the game.

“That kid’s amazing,” said Pluta of Del Rosario following the game. “Me, [fellow B.C. coaches] Brooks (McNiven) and Cav (Whitley) were mentioning . . . what a way to keep your composure. You come in and you’re up one run and you shut the door.”

B.C. and Saskatchewan have 4-1 records and share the lead atop Pool A. They will play each other on the final day of Round-Robin play on Wednesday. Saskatchewan defeated B.C. 13-3 in the previous matchup on Monday.

“That should be an exciting game,” said Pluta. “Bronsy (Saskatchewan head Greg Brons) does a great job over there and they’re always in the mix . . . It will be interesting. It will be fun to see how the weekend plays out as we move forward.”