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AM ford trail orioles: Birds take big strides towards Westerns

Best-of-five series decides who gets sent to Westerns.

The AM Ford Trail Orioles took a giant leap towards the Western Canadian Championships early this week as they swept the Vernon Diamondbacks in a two-game series.

The Orioles’ Kyle Paulson threw a complete game shutout in the first match Sunday, striking out seven, as the O’s squeezed out a 1-0 victory.

Consecutive singles by Josh Mace, Kyle Mace and Jim Maniago scored the only O’s run in the third inning, in a game that turned out to be a classic pitching duel.

The O’s found their bats early in the second game Monday, scoring in every inning to pace them to a 10-0 mercy-rule drubbing of the D-backs.

Kyle Mace and Jim Maniago combined for the win giving up only three hits through five innings.

Cam Ferguson went 3 for 3 at the plate, Kyle Mace was 2 for 4 with five RBIs, and Connor Jones and Josh Mace both had two hits.

These were the first two games in a best-of-five series to decide which team represents B.C. at the Western Canadian Senior Men’s Baseball championship in Winnipeg, Man. Aug. 23-27.

Trail is the defending champion, and will host the remaining three-game set against Vernon July 14-15 at Butler Park, needing only one win to send them to the Westerns.

The Orioles head to Seattle this weekend for a tough four-game test against the Northwest Honkers in Pacific International League action.