| Game 32: British Columbia 11 Québec 3 |
|
DARREN STEINKE This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it It took a marathon match victory, but British Columbia advanced to the final of the Baseball Canada Cup for the 10th straight year. In the second semifinal match played Sunday afternoon at Athletic Park, B.C. defeated Québec 11-3 in a game that ran two hours and 36 minutes. “In the last two days, I think our guys just got themselves into a better frame of mind, especially the hitters,” said B.C. head coach John Haar. “They started to believe in themselves.” The afternoon match saw both clubs struggle on the mound. B.C. starter Matt Thornton was pulled after facing one batter in the second inning. He walked a pair of batters in the first inning and threw a number of wild pitches as Québec took a 2-0 lead. Québec starter Jonathan Paquet was pulled after three complete innings, even though his club was leading 2-1. Paquet faced 12 hitters, but he had his struggles walking three batters over that time. He also faced numerous battles at the plate. The Ancienne Lorette product was pitching just a day after closing out an 8-7 quarter-final victory Saturday over Alberta, where he struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh. Québec head coach Joel Landry said he decided to start Paquet after talking to his young hurler in the morning. Paquet said he was ready to go. The coach and player had conferences after every inning, and one of those conferences brought an end to the pitcher’s day. “I was talking to him after the third inning,” said Landry. “He said when he was sitting down his heartbeat was in his elbow.” Landry didn’t want to risk blowing out Paquet’s arm and went to the bullpen. Québec used a total of five hurlers in the game. B.C. rallied in the fourth scoring four runs on four hits and an error. Darren Kolk, Kellin Deglan and Antonio Paolini all had RBI singles in the rally, while Wes Darvill had a sacrifice RBI to put B.C. up 5-2. In the top of the fifth, Québec looked to have a rally going as left-fielder Sasha Legarde led off the inning with a double. He advanced to third on a single by Samuel Domingue. Legarde would score after B.C. third baseman Alex Calbick threw the ball away trying to throw Québec catcher Alexandre Beland out at first. That score cut the B.C. lead to 5-3, and Québec still had runners on first and second with no outs. Julien Casaubon grounded into a double player and Kevin Parent flew out to end the threat in the inning. B.C. scored six runs in the sixth inning to end the competitive phase of the game. Haar’s team received a huge relief performance from Zak Miller, who threw the final six innings striking out five batters and giving up a run. “He gave us everything and more than we really needed,” said Haar. |
