The Trail AM Ford Orioles bats exploded on Wednesday in their opening game at the Grand Forks International Baseball Tournament pounding out 17 runs on 14 hits on their way to a 17-7 drubbing of the West Coast Guns at James Donaldson Park.
The Orioles jumped out to a 7-0 first inning lead on the strength of a pair of singles and RBIs from Trail’s Joey Underwood, and a two-run double into left from Dallas Calvin that would also score two.
Calvin, the O’s starting pitcher, took a 3-1 fastball into deep left to score Tyler Thorson and Kyle Mace to make it 3-0. After Cam Lowe and Cam Ferguson singled, Calvin would score on a passed ball, and David Profilli would load the bases with a walk. Underwood would then step up and deliver his second single of the inning to right field to make it 7-0 Orioles.
The O’s would make it 8-0 in the top of two, after Kyle Mace was knocked in on a Scott Davidson hit.
West Coast of Stockton, Calif., got one back in the bottom of the second, but the Guns’ hurlers would have a meltdown of nuclear proportions in the top of the third, walking eight batters, as the Orioles advanced on multiple wild pitches and passed balls counting eight more runs in the inning to take a 16-1 lead.
The Guns would manage to shut the O’s down over the next two innings, and score six of their own before the Orioles would close it out in the sixth with a run, and call the game in the seventh due to the 10-run rule.
Calvin pitched four-and-one-third innings, giving up five hits, and five runs, while also striking out and walking five. Joel Graf came on in relief and ceded two runs on three hits while striking out four and walking one batter. Cam Ferguson went 3-for-3 on the night for the Orioles and scored three runs, while Underwood was 3-for-4 and Mace 2-for-3.
In other action the Lacey Saints edged the North West Honkers 4-3, while the North Sound Emeralds completed the comeback, beating the Kamloops Sun Devils in 10 innings, 9-8, after scoring four runs in the ninth to tie it. The Langley Sr. Blaze walloped the Lacey Saints 9-1 in the early game Thursday.
The Orioles had Thursday off and will face the Seattle Studs today at 5 p.m. and play the Everett Merchants on Saturday at 8 a.m. to complete it’s round-robin.
The playoffs go Sunday and Monday.