The Gibsons Jays junior men's baseball team opened up its season with a double header last weekend against the Poco Pirates.
After starting pitcher Zach Ruggles limited the Pirates to four runs over four innings, standout Cumberland University pitcher Mitchell Rainer came in and pitched five innings of one-hit scoreless ball.
The Jays bats got hot late with Greg Kelley leading the way, but fell short in the game 4-3 after leaving the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth.
In Game two, the Jays again fell short with a final score of 10-9. This time 17-year-old Dallas Colpitts got the start and after a shaky first inning held the Pirates in check. Rainer, along with Kelly and Taylor Fanchar, led the Jays bats in the loss.
The Jays are holding a fundraising raffle event in between a double header on Sunday, May 27, at Ryan Dempster Field and would like to invite the community to enjoy a hot day of ball and barbecue.
Sneddon second again
For two and a half laps at the Orecrusher on Saturday, May 12, in Squamish, it looked like Sechelt's Kris Sneddon was going to get his "revenge" on Squamish's Neal Kindree.
On May 5, Kindree won first place on Sneddon's turf at the Sunshine Coaster and Sneddon was hoping to return the favour on Kindree's home turf in the trails of Brackendale.
But then Kindree turned it on.
"I caught Kris basically half way through the last lap," Kindree said. "I was sucking his wheel [drafting] up the road and passed him on the main climb."
Kindree beat out Sneddon by just over eight seconds, despite his rival leading the pack for most of the race, including an incredible start that saw him easily keep up with the pace car.
"I thought you guys were going to come with me," Sneddon joked to Kindree after the race. "I was hoping to get my revenge, but maybe next time."
The winning time of 1:50:54.2 is the fastest for the race since 2009 and marks the second consecutive win at the Orecrusher for Kindree.
