REGINA - Thursday was a busy day at the BIGS Seeds Baseball Canada Cup in Saskatchewan’s capital.
The first of eight games got underway between Nova Scotia and Manitoba. Pitching was strong on both sides. Despite nine hits for Manitoba, a three-run rally in the fourth for Nova Scotia proved costly and Nova Scotia won 3-2.
Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland engaged in a high-scoring match. Each squad racked up double digits in hits, with PEI tallying 18 and Newfoundland collecting 11. PEI won 16-9 in part thanks to three RBIs apiece from Ty Arsenault and Ben MacDougall.
Ontario beat Saskatchewan 3-0 in a pitcher’s duel. Saskatchewan’s Jackson Fraser was on the mound for six innings and struck out six. Ontario’s Ben Adams got the better of Saskatchewan hitters with an impressive eight strikeouts.
Québec played a strong game against British Columbia, winning 11-0 via mercy rule. BC never caught up after falling behind by four in the first inning. Runs continued to pour in for Québec until the game was called after the fifth. Four strikeouts in four innings by William Lacroix and three RBI each for Cedric De Granpre and Nicolas Deschamps helped seal the deal.
Alberta defeated Newfoundland 11-6 in a tight extra-inning game. The game was tied at six after the seventh inning. Alberta’s bats came to life in the top of the eighth and produced a 5-run rally which Newfoundland could not come back from.
Prince Edward Island failed to grab another win in their 7-2 loss against Manitoba. Shortstop Jordan Lussier continued his success for Manitoba with a single, double, and three runs. Logan Warkentin also pitched 2.1 strong innings in relief for Manitoba, earning the win.
Nova Scotia came back and walked off New Brunswick in to remain undefeated. The game was tied heading into the seventh. New Brunswick seemed to pull away with a three-run effort in the top of the inning, but Nova Scotia scored four and secured the victory. A walk off base on balls for Timmy Mann scored Michael Short and Nova Scotia pulled away 7-6.
The day wrapped up with Québec dominating Saskatchewan in a 15-0 win, yet again due to mercy rule. Québec has scored more than ten or more runs in all but one of their games thus far. Shortstop Emilien Pitre had four RBI and two hits.
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