In a unique situation, the senior Mid Island Pirates concluded a game against the Victoria Eagles at Evans Park on Wednesday night that they started in Nanaimo’s Serauxmen Stadium a week earlier.
“We ran out of light in our last game against the Eagles,” Pirates head coach Doug Rogers explained, noting that he couldn’t think of another time in his more than three decades coaching baseball that a game started in one venue and ended in another.
The teams wrapped up the rest of the postponed game prior to a regularly scheduled game.
The Pirates and Eagles were deadlocked at 7-7 when it got too dark the first time they tried to play the game. The Eagles scored once in the top of the eighth on Wednesday, and the Pirates couldn’t match them in the bottom. Cowichan Valley products with hits in the game included Marcus Steen (1-for-3), Morley Scott (1-for-4), and junior call-up Nolan Fothergill (1-for-1 with an RBI) and Mac Homeniuk (1-for-1). Cole Anderson went down as the losing pitcher, despite striking out five and allowing just two runs in three-and-two-thirds innings of work.
In the game that was actually scheduled for Wednesday night, the Eagles beat the Pirates 5-2 in the usual seven innings. Steen and Ramwell both went 3-for-2, and Jackson Stephen went 1-for-2. Anderson was hit with the loss again, even though only one of the four runs the Eagles got against him over five innings was earned.
The Pirates are 9-22 so far this season, but Rogers is excited about their potential. The majority of the players are in Grade 10, with a sprinkling of Grade 9s, one Grade 11 and a couple of Grade 12s in the mix.
“From the perspective of age, how young the team is, we’re having an excellent year,” the coach said. “This is going to be something special in a couple of years. I wish I had a time machine so I could project the kids into Grade 12 and see where we’re at then.”
The junior Mid Island Pirates will visit Evans Park on June 28 with a 3:30 p.m. start.