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Feasting on UBC Thunder pitching, the Okanagan Athletics climbed into fifth place in B.C. Premier (Midget) Baseball League standings with a four-game sweep of the visitors at Elks Stadium on the weekend.
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Led by Jaden Parsons’ 11 hits in four games, the A’s connected for 46 hits on home field, improving to 18-12 on the season and moving to within four games of the first-place Langley Blaze in the 13-team league.
Parsons capped his weekend hitting spree with three singles in the second game of a doubleheader on Sunday that saw the A’s combine for 17 hits in an 18-6 victory.
The Vernon product also drew a pair of walks, scored three times and drove in two runs while boosting his season average to a league-best .452.
Cole Van Every and Carter Morris also had a prominent role in the hit parade in the final game of the weekend, each coming through with three hits and raising their average to .355 and .321 respectively. Alex Wright of Kamloops hit his fifth home run of the season, tying him with Kayden Beauregard of the Abbotsford Cardinals for the league lead.
Jackson Borne was the winning pitcher despite giving up four earned runs on six hits over five innings.
The A’s added another 10 hits in Sunday morning’s game but needed a run in the bottom of the seventh inning to squeeze out an 8-7 win over the Thunder (8-19).
Not surprisingly, it was Parsons who got things started with a single, and he scored the winning (unearned) run on a pair of UBC errors.
It was the fourth time in the game the Athletics had to come from behind against the stubborn Thunder who had taken leads of 2-0, 3-2, and 6-3.
Parsons, Colton Schaper-Kotter and Marcus Strother all stroked three hits for the A’s while Luigi Russo contributed a single and two runs-batted in.
Borne, pitching 1 1/3 innings of relief, claimed the win on the mound after both Keaton Mandryk (six hits, six walks) and Ethan Huizinga (three hits) struggled to silence the Thunder.
The Athletics, with 12 wins in their past 14 games, opened the weekend by scoring four runs in the final two innings for a 6-5 victory.
Parsons and Van Every both gave an indication of what was to come when they smacked three hits apiece, one of Parsons’ being a run-scoring double in a nine-hit A’s performance.
Morris, 4-1, went the distance on the hill, allowing four earned runs on six hits while striking out nine.
The second game on Saturday saw the Athletics team up for 10 hits and take advantage of nine walks and three UBC errors for a five-inning 15-2 mercy-rule win.
Three hits, including a double and three RBI by Parsons were a major contribution to a 10-hit A’s attack that also included doubles by Schaper-Kotter (three RBI), Strother and Wright, who drove in four runs for the winners.
Van Every went the full five innings, scattering five hits and posting five strikeouts while improving to 3-3 on the season.
The A’s are back on the road this weekend, traveling to Coquitlam for a four-game set against the Reds (15-12). They won’t be back at Elks Stadium until July 14 when they play host to the Mid-Island Pirates.
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