The Duncan RiverCats ran their summer baseball record to 10-0 with three more wins last weekend in the run-up to hosting the midget AA Island championships.
Last Thursday, the RiverCats trounced Victoria's AAA team in Victoria behind the solid pitching of Jordy Frost, Ethan Whitelaw and Adam Sakuma. Catcher Adam Fukakusa complemented the pitchers perfectly, keeping everything in front of him and throwing out a Victoria runner who attempted to steal second base.
Blair Robertson opened the scoring with a three-run homer in the fourth inning, while Zach Komst and Reiya Tomida each had a single and a double.
On Sunday, the Duncan team won both ends of a doubleheader against at Evans Park. The first game was going in the wrong direction with the RiverCats trailing 5-2, but a seven-run fifth inning turned the game around for a 9-6 victory.
Sakuma stepped to the mound in the fifth inning and held on to preserve the win. Komst went 3-for-3 at the plate, while Frost and Fukakusa both had two hits.
The RiverCats led the second game from the start, but blew it wide open with 10 runs in the sixth to mercy Campbell River 17-6. Stating pitcher Robertson and reliever Whitelaw did excellent work, with the help of a catch by centrefielder Tyler McWhirter that coach Jim Frost called one of the greatest he has ever seen. "A line drive was hit over his head towards the fence, but he ran full out and made a diving over the shoulder catch just before it would have hit the fence," Frost recalled.
Robertson helped his own cause with three hits, matched by Keir Baknes. McWhirter, Whitelaw, Jaysen Paddle and Derek Hayes had two hits apiece.
The RiverCats will host the Island championships at Evans Park this weekend, taking the field on Saturday at noon against Victoria and 6 p.m. against Campbell River, and on Sunday at 1 p.m. against Comox. The top two teams will advance to provincials on July 31-Aug. 1 in Mission. Duncan's peewee AA team is also hosting Islands at Evans Park this weekend, while the bantam AA Cowichan Valley Mustangs are at Islands in Victoria.