British Columbia 7, Bushnell 1; British Columbia 8, Bushnell 1

British Columbia completed a four-game sweep of Bushnell at Tourmaline West Stadium on the UBC campus.

British Columbia 7, Bushnell 1 at Vancouver, BC. Ryan Beitel pitched eight innings, and allowed only two hits, one of them a home run by Jordan Wilson in the fourth inning. Beitel threw 103 pitches, struck out ten, didn’t walk a batter, hit one.

Beacon starter Max Chapman hit the first two batters he faced. The next batter, Trent Lenihan, hit into a double play. The Thunderbirds proceeded to score three runs with two out, on RBI singles by Mitchell Middlemiss and Kellen Bourne, and Middlemiss scored on a failed pickoff attempt. The Thunderbirds scored with an RBI triple by Jonny McGill in the second inning, an RBI double by Aidan Rose in the third inning, an RBI single by Rose in the fifth inning, and an RBI double by Russell Young in the eighth inning.

Lucas Huynh pitched the ninth inning for the Thunderbirds, allowed two hits, struck out two. Chapman got the loss. Loreto Siniscalchi (Burnaby, BC) pitched the sixth through eighth innings for the Beacons, allowed one run (unearned) on one hit, struck out one. Bourne finished 3-for-4 with two doubles, an RBI, and two runs scored. Wilson got two of the Beacons’ four hits. box score

British Columbia 8, Bushnell 1. For seven innings, this was a pitching duel between Daniel Orfaly of the Thunderbirds and Kai Keamo of the Beacons. Orfaly allowed five hits, struck out three, threw 97 pitches, and allowed the only run during that period, a solo home run by Jordan Wilson in the top of the sixth inning. Keamo was even more impressive; he allowed only two hits (one of which was a suspect scorer’s decision), struck out six, walked three, hit two batters, and threw 93 pitches.

Wilson’s home run came at the end of a long at-bat. At the end of that inning, Will Hudler disagreed with a strike three call, and was ejected. The Thunderbirds didn’t get their second hit of the game until the bottom of the seventh inning, a leadoff single by Russell Young. He was bunted to second by Aidan Rose, then went to third on a wild pitch. He was stranded there after an infield popup and a strikeout.

The Beacons missed a chance to score another run in the top of the eighth. Orfaly was relieved by British National Team member Oliver Duthie. Duthie immediately gave up a single by Albert Jennings and hit Wilson with a pitch. Ethan Stacy bunted Wilson and Jennings to second and third. Orfaly hit Cade Crist with a pitch (there was a total of eight hit batters in this game, five of them by the Beacons) to load the bases. Duthie was relieved by Adam Khan, and he threw only one pitch. It was hit into center field by Jacob Richardson. The ball was caught by Jackson Boomer, who then made a good throw to third base and Wilson was tagged for the third out. Problem was, Jennings was in no hurry to run home, and the umpire ruled that the third out was recorded before Jennings reached home. The score remained 1-0 Beacons going into the bottom of the eighth.

Keamo was relieved by Garrett Vohs, and his experience was similar to Duthie’s. Kyle Yip led off with a single. Vohs hit the next two batters, loading the bases, and he was relieved by Alec Gums. Gums proceeded to hit the first batter he faced, Aaron Marsh, and that ended the shutout. The next batter, Mitchell Middlemiss, hit a single to drive in the winning run. Young hit a single to put the Thunderbirds ahead 3-1. Gums struck out a batter, then David Draayers hit an RBI single. Gums was relieved by Nate Rasmussen, who had pitched 2 2/3 innings the previous day, and he was greeted with an RBI single by Kaden Zarowny. Yip hit an infield fly for the second out of the inning. Jonny McGill hit a two-RBI single and Zarowny went home on a passed ball to complete the scoring.

The Beacons missed one more chance to score a run in the top of the ninth when Dylan Carson, who hit a double, got caught between second and third base and was tagged out. Carson’s double was the only hit Khan allowed, and he got the win. Vohs got the loss. Young was the only Thunderbird with two hits. Carson had two hits for the Beacons. box score recap