Despite ending round-robin play in dramatic fashion, team statistics ended the Prince George Midget Knights’ chances at repeating a Western Canadian Championship.
After entering the bottom half of the seventh inning down 9-3, the local 18U AA club defeated the Alberta-champion Leduc Giants 10-9 on a seven-run comeback victory this morning (Aug. 18) and salvaged a 2-2 record at the tournament.
However, when all was said and done, it was Leduc advancing to the gold medal game today against the Altona Bisons based on the Western Canadian Baseball Association’s (WCBA) tiebreaking rules.
The WCBA rule states, in the event of a three-way tie:
“The placement of teams will be dictated by the ratio of number of runs allowed per defensive inning. Only those games between the tied teams are to be used in determining this ratio, with the lowest ratio placing highest in the standings.”
So, here’s the mathematical breakdown.
Prince George was tied in second place in the five-team 18U AA standings with Leduc and the Unity Cardinals at 2-2 apiece.
The Knights allowed 12 runs in 13 defensive innings-played against those two ball clubs; divide those two numbers and you get 0.92.
The Giants allowed 10 runs in 12 defensive innings-played between Prince George and Unity; divide those two numbers and you get 0.83.
Therefore, Leduc advanced to the 2019 final due to a lower defensive-effort ratio than that of Prince George.
If the @PGYBAKnights had beaten Leduc by 4 runs, like Lukinchuk eluded to earlier, the final numbers would have been ...
— Kyle Balzer (@KyleBalzer) August 18, 2019
PG = 0.92
Leduc = 1.08
So PG claims 🥉 by mathematical elimination, ending their 2019 campaign against other 18U AA teams | #CityOfPG @Baseball_BC @PGMatters
The Knights placed third in the official standings, earning them a bronze medal and a second piece of hardware from back-to-back appearances at Westerns.
Group stage results are as follows:
- 3-1 loss to Unity (Sask.)
- 2-1 loss to Altona (Man.)
- 7-6 win over Strathmore (Host)
- 10-9 win over Leduc (Alta.)
Graduating players this year include third-years Richard French, Kaelon Gibbs, Kolby Lukinchuk, and Brady Pratt.
In 2019, they captured a third straight Baseball B.C. Provincial title, a B.C. Minor Baseball championship, won two of the three tournaments they entered against other 18U AA clubs during the season, and even conquered the Senior Men’s Baseball League (PGSBL) icebreaker event.
The good news, the season is still not over as the Knights begin PGSBL playoffs on Tuesday (Aug. 20) at Citizen Field.
