Two weeks ago in Kamloops the P.G. Surg-Med Knights took their lumps at the River City Classic.
Taking on triple-A midget teams from BC Baseball’s College Prep League, the two-time defending double-A provincial champs got off to a 2-0 start but then were shelled in three decisive losses – a tough ending for a Knights team that’s done a lot of winning the past two seasons.
It didn’t take them long to recapture the magic.
The Knights traveled to Sherwood Park, Alta., for the six-team Doc Plotsky Memorial double-A tournament this past weekend and went undefeated, beating the Strathmore Reds 10-1 in Sunday’s final.
“Coming into the game they were undefeated at 5-0 in season play and 3-0 in the tournament and it was pretty close until the final inning and we put up seven,” said Knights assistant coach Dylan Lukinchuk.
Liam Campbell pitched six complete innings, allowing one run on four hits, and he started the big seventh inning by getting on base with a walk. A couple hits and two hit batters later that brought in one run and the next batter, Derian Potskin, smacked a double off the wall to score two more.
Richard French came in for one scoreless inning of relief pitching. The Reds’ only run came in the sixth inning as a result of bases-loaded walk. The Knights sent 11 batters to the plate in the seventh.
“It was a team effort that inning – it wasn’t one swing that put us up,” said Lukinchuk.
“People were finding ways to get on base any way they could. Everybody’s going up with an approach just to get on base, they’re not looking to swing at the first pitch or trying to hit a home run.”
Potskin, the cleanup hitter, knocked out a home run in the Knights’ 13-0 semifinal win over Chestermere earlier Sunday.
“Hopefully he brings in a lot of runs. He’s got just a natural swing – he’s so confident and he’s one of our first-years,” said Lukinchuk.
The Knights still have the one-two batting punch of Mike Schwab and A.J. Nickolet, both slotted in the top of the order as they were the previous two seasons. Quinten Astorino is in the No. 3 spot.
Midget rookie Nolan Hall has been hot with his bat and notched the first win at the Kamloops tournament while first-year Knight Hunter Fanshaw, the No. 9 hitter, led the team in runs in Sherwood Park and has proven adept at stealing bases.
Twelve of the 14 Knights can pitch. Neither Colby Lukinchuk nor Nickolet, who are second and third in the pitching order, were called to the mound on the weekend.
The Knights opened Saturday with a 17-2 win over the Calgary Grizzlies and beat host Sherwood Park 8-1. In the four games combined they annihilated their opponents from Alberta 48-4.
“These are more like the guys at our level in provincials and it was a better outcome than our last tournament,” said Lukinchuk.
“In Kamloops we were missing four starters and we were trying to win with 10 players at a triple-A tournament.
“We lost five core players from last year and had to replace them with some guys who were seeing midget play for the first time back in Kamloops there, but they kind of have a grasp on what it’s like now. At this (Sherwood Park) tournament they looked like they’ve been playing there the last year-and-a-half. They’re playing so effortlessly.”
The Knights, with five new players, are once again part of the Prince George Senior Baseball League and are off to a 1-1 start. Campbell, Schwab, Nickolet, and Joseph Jenvenne are in their third year with the Knights.
Last year the team won both provincial midget double-A titles – B.C. Minor Baseball (in Ridge Meadows) and Baseball BC (in Port Coquitlam) – then advanced to the Western Canadian championship in Kamloops, where they placed second.
The Knights, under head coach Murray Lukinchuk, are back on the field for two games this week in the PGSBL. They played the Inland Control and Services Tigers Tuesday night, and take on the Queensway Auto World Red Sox Thursday night at 7.
The Knights will be in Newton for a tournament, June 23-24, and Kelowna, June 29 to July 1.
The B.C. Minor provincials are in Mission, Aug. 3-5, with the winner advancing to a championship tournament in San Francisco.
