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Team B.C. baseball scores well at U18 championships

North Van players help power squad at Babe Ruth regionals
Babe Ruth
Jacob Edmonds smacks a hit for Team B.C. at the under-18 Babe Ruth regional championships in Calgary. photo supplied

A group of Lower Mainland kids – mostly from Coquitlam and North Vancouver – stepped into the batter’s box and laced their best hits to extend the Babe Ruth season at last week’s under-18 Babe Ruth regional championships in Calgary.

As Team B.C., they advanced all the way to the semifinal before bowing out, but not before posting a winning 3-2 record along the way.

The Calgary AAA Blues handed B.C. an 11-1 defeat in the semifinal in a game where they were out-hit 14-2. But the pitching and defence kept it close for the first three innings, before Calgary began to expand its lead.

Along the way B.C. defeated Montana 5-3, after the two teams scored three runs each in their side of the first inning. B.C. counted the decisive run in the fourth, then added to it in the fifth. North Vancouver’s Cameron Fillipone went 2-for-3, with two runs scored, in the victory, while Coquitlam’s Ryan MacDonald pitched seven strong innings, surrendering just three hits while fanning seven hitters.

They also knocked off the Calgary AA team 12-9, erasing an 8-6 deficit with three runs in the top of the seventh. While Calgary rallied and forced extra innings, B.C. won it with three runs in the top of the eighth.

Ethan Akelaitis and Jason Powers each rapped out three hits, with Powers counting a home run and four RBI. Johan Steenken entered the game late and picked up the win.

B.C. opened the tournament on the wrong side of a 15-5 game with South Washington, during which New West’s Connor Suffron registered three of the team’s five hits. In their next test, the squad surprised Wyoming 7-3, as New West’s Nicholas Coles picked up the win.

It’s the first time in six years that B.C. qualified for the tournament.

The all-star team’s roster included: New West’s Nicholas Coles and Connor Suffron; Whalley’s Michael Bauer; Coquitlam’s Josh Carswell, Ryan MacDonald, Jason Powers, Justin Richter and Nolan Smith; North Vancouver’s Ethan Akelaitis, Connor Bajus, Noah Davis, Jacob Edmonds, Cameron Fillipone, Kevin Fraser, Darren Kirstensen, Johan Steenken and Andrew Wright.

The B.C. Babe Ruth circuit offers 16- and 18 year old division, formed after Little League scrubbed the 17-18 Big League division last year.

Dan Olson is the sports editor at the News’ sister paper, the Burnaby Now