Erratic Tritons earn split

Michael Booth

Josh Ridgeway's neck must be feeling sore these days.

The rookie head coach of the White Rock Tritons may be exhibiting symptoms of whiplash after enduring a wild weekend in the B.C. Premier Baseball League.

The Tritons finished with a split of two doubleheaders over the weekend but did so in spectacular fashion. Saturday the Tritons hammered Nanaimo 12-2 in the first game but were then blown out of the park 13-1 in Game 2. Sunday brought more of the same as White Rock blanked Langley 6-0 in the opener only to be pounded 12-5 later the same afternoon.

"Our pitching is just really inconsistent right now," Ridgeway said. "We have three guys who can go out there and throw strikes and get outs. Then we have other guys who, well, flip a coin for what they're going to do."

Against Langley Sunday, Tritons starter Danny Lees tossed a five-hitter to get the shutout in Game 1. In the second game, however, Ridgeway was forced to use five different pitchers as Langley hitters pounded out 17 hits.

On Saturday, White Rock's bats were alive with 14 hits in the first game. Kevin Atkinson led the charge with a triple, a single, four runs scored and a pair of RBIs.

The Tritons bats disappeared in Game 2, however, as Nanaimo pitching held White Rock to five hits the Pirate hitters were mauling the host team's pitchers for 13 runs off 10 hits.

z The surging Fraser Valley Chiefs pushed their win streak to eight games with four more victories in league play last week.

The Chiefs outlasted North Delta 11-10 in eight innings Tuesday before squeaking past White Rock 3-1 Thursday.

The Whalley boys kept that momentum going into a double header with the Reds in Coquitlam Saturday.

In the opener, Chiefs pitcher Drew Parker tossed a four-hitter with five strikeouts as Fraser Valley rolled to a 10-3 win.

In the second game, Fraser Valley scored six runs in the first two innings to end the suspense early in a 9-2 Chiefs win. Mark Ellis led the Fraser Valley offence with a double, two singles and four RBIs.

z The week started well for the North Delta Blue Jays but quickly deteriorated.

North Delta won a pitcher's duel with Vancouver Monday night to pick up a 1-0 decision in extra innings. Chris Bowman held Vancouver to four hits over eight innings before Jeff Hutton's double scored David Van Ostrand.

The following evening, North Delta fell behind the Chiefs 9-0 then stormed back to take a 10-9 lead only to lose 11-10 in extra innings.

Thursday night in Vancouver, the Mounties scored four runs in the first inning and then held on for a 6-4 win despite walking nine Blue Jays in the game.

posted on 05/18/2005