The Trail AM Ford Orioles capped off a sweep of the shorthanded Vernon Diamondbacks with a 13-3 win Sunday to close out their three game series at Butler Park over the weekend.
The Dbacks came into the series shorthanded and had to enlist substitutes to fill out their roster hurting their competitiveness against a much stronger Trail squad.
“Any time you play Trail you’re always going to be up against it, they’re a really strong defensive and hitting team,” said the Dbacks playing-coach, Eric MacLachlan. “But we had two guys bail on us at the last minute and had to pick up a couple of guys from the campsite. That’s obviously not going to help our chances.”
In handing out what could reasonably be called a shellacking to the Vernon team, the Orioles have improved their record to winning seven of their last eight games.
Trail dominated the weekend scoring against the Diamondbacks winning 13-3 Sunday, and 10-1 and 18-0 Saturday.
In the middle game of the series Trail pitcher Scott Rhynold garnered a no-hitter and was two walks away from a perfect game, while striking out six in the victory.
The Dbacks started the game with an error-filled first inning, dropping 13 runs to Trail. The remainder of the game saw no improvement and the game was called after four and half innings offering mercy to the disheartened Dbacks. James Oliver cashed in four runs for the O’s, going 3-for-3 with two doubles.
“The guys have been playing really well,” said Orioles manager, Dave Cahoun. “They’ve been hitting well since the Kelowna tournament and the other guys didn’t seem to have the pitching they usually have.”
Orioles playing-coach, Jim Maniago, said that the Vernon team may not have fared well in this outing but admitted that when they are on their game it can be a much closer game.
“When they play well anything can happen,” said Maniago. “This time they gave us too many opportunities and we took them.”
In Sunday’s 13-3 match, Calvin went 3-for-4 at the plate with a double, a stolen base, and three RBIs, while Maniago knocked in four and was 2-for-3 at the dish. Paulson got the win, going the distance and giving up three runs on five hits and two walks, while striking out seven.
The O’s last loss came at the hands of the Thurston County Senators at the Canada Day Baseball Blast tournament, a 2-1 extra-inning loss in the semifinal.
The Orioles will get a chance to avenge the loss when they face Thurston County at Butler Park this coming weekend for another three game series with games going Saturday at 5 and 7 p.m. and Sunday at 11 a.m.