The White Rock Tritons opened the BC Premier Baseball League season in perfectly even fashion last weekend – with two wins and two losses.
On Saturday at South Surrey Athletic Park, the South Surrey-based under-18 squad split a season-opening doubleheader against the North Delta Blue Jays, winning the first game 8-7 before dropping Game 2 by a 13-6 score.
The results were much the same a day later, too, as the Tritons split a Sunday two-gamer against the visiting Victoria Eagles. The Eagles got the better of the Tritons 2-1 in the first game, but the home team stormed back to take the nightcap, 6-2.
White Rock sit third in the BCPBL with its .500 record, though six teams have yet to play, largely as a result of opening-week rainouts. North Delta and the UBC Thunder are both 3-1 through the first two days of play.
Saturday’s games against the Jays provided plenty of offensive fireworks – from both teams. In the first game, the teams combined for 20 hits, with White Rock led by third baseman Trent Lenihan, who went 3-for-4 at the plate with a run-batted-in, three runs scored and a stolen base. Three other Tritons – Corbin Smith, Terrell Rogers and Jason Blouin – also had multi-hit efforts in the victory.
Blouin also pitched one inning of relief for White Rock, which was enough to earn the victory as his team scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh. He struck out two in his late-game appearance, after starting the game as the team’s designated hitter.
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Returing veteran Noah Bryerton earned the opening-day start for the Tritons, striking out four over four innings of work while allowing just one earned run.
The second game Saturday was well within the Tritons’ grasp as well, but the team saw a 6-4 lead slip away in the final inning when North Delta exploded for nine runs.
Lenihan, who is batting .500 through four games, paced the offence with two hits and two RBI, and Josh Fluet, Kieran Ritchie and Alen Sugimoto – a call-up from the under-16 Junior Tritons – combined to pitch in the loss.
In stark contrast to Saturday’s offence-heavy games, Sunday’s games saw more subdued bats at South Surrey Athletic Park.
In the 2-1 Victoria win, all the runs were scored in the first two innings, and then the teams were stymied by pitching and defence the rest of the way, and combined for just eight hits. White Rock managed just three, including a double from Bryerton.
Logan MacNeil – who pitched a no-hitter for the Junior Tritons on opening day last April – was tagged with the loss, giving up two runs and striking out one in one inning. Nolan Austin pitched six innings of relief, striking out six and allowing just three hits and no runs.
In the final game of the weekend, Ryan Dauphinee, Austin and Kole Turner each had doubles and Blouin picked up his second win of the weekend after a solid performance as the starting pitcher. He lasted five frames, striking out five while walking none and scattering three hits.
The Tritons are back on the field Wednesday for an evening road game against the Whalley Chiefs. First pitch is set for 7 p.m. at Whalley Athletic Park.
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