Victoria Golden Tide split weekend series with Prairie Academy

Daniel Sawchyn celebrates an RBI double in a game against PBA on Saturday. Photo: Christian J. Stewart

April 24, 2022

Official Victoria Golden Tide News Release

Victoria, BC - The Golden Tide welcomed the Prairie Academy Dawgs into town on a Friday evening where the Golden Tide laid the law down on their visitors from Lethbridge, Alta.

That law came in the form of a 14-3 thrashing. Saturday featured a doubleheader for the second and third games of this four-game weekend series. Victoria stifled Prairie’s offence in the first game at noon with a 5-0 victory that featured some timely hitting with runners in scoring scoring position.

The second game of the doubleheader was the polar opposite to say the least. Prairie Academy scored one run in the first inning, five more in the second and ended up finishing the game with a lopsided 14-2 scoreline.

Sunday morning would be much of the same story as the Dawgs brought their hot bats to the Wilson's Group Stadium once more. The Albertan squad would use a seven-run third inning to propel them to a 13-6 victory in order to split the series with Victoria.

Victoria's early success in the series was fueled by some spectacular performances on the mound, both from the two starters and some notable relief appearances. Brady Wilson took to the rubber on Friday evening and ended up hurling 6 1/3 innings of six-hit, two-earned run ball while setting down eight on strikes.

The Golden Tide then looked to Joel Portz at noon on Saturday for the first of the doubleheader. Portz exceeded all expectations by going eight innings of scoreless baseball and retiring eight Dawgs batters on strikes putting on a jaw dropping show at Royal Athletic Park.

Also notable was Haldon Craig out of the bullpen on Friday night. He surrendered a solo home run to Prairie's lead off man, Josh Kabayama, but apart from that went 2 2/3 clean innings while striking out four to close the game for the Golden Tide.

Joel Portz may have been the story of Saturday afternoon, but it would be criminal to not mention Daniel Sawchyn's three-run double in the eighth inning of that same game pushing the Golden Tide's lead to five, and giving his squad some much needed breathing room that undoubtedly played a role in the game’s smooth finish. Sawchyn ended up with a very nice series as Victoria's centre fielder closed out the weekend with five hits (three of which went for extra bases) in 11 plate appearances and racking up six RBIs.

Although Prairie Academy was held in check for the first two games of the series, they refused to be shut down for the entirety of a weekend. The bats came alive early and often in the final two games of the series. They scored more than six runs in the first three innings of both games while finishing those games with a combined 27 runs.

On Saturday afternoon, during the second game of the doubleheader, it was Ty Schaffer who achieved the win on the bump for the Dawgs with his strong six-inning, three-hit and two-earned run performance. Schaffer would strike out seven Victoria players but did offer up five free passes. Schaffer remained calm and cool with the Golden Tide threatening, working out of trouble on multiple occasions included stranding the bases loaded twice.

Owen Nychyk was one of the main contributors for the Dawgs this weekend, especially in the second game on Saturday afternoon where he went 3-for-6 with a round-tripper, a double and three RBIs. The pride of Winnipeg, Man., would also add another hit on Sunday morning.

Centre fielder, Josh Kabayama, was also a big bat for Prairie Academy, mostly during their 13-6 victory in the series finale where he had two hits and scored three runs while working a walk. Kabayama, Prairie's leadoff man, ended the series with four hits, a home run, seven runs and two walks. He has been a big bat in the line up all year for the Lethbridge, Alta., squad and has now raised his batting average up to .368.

Looking Ahead

The Golden Tide will aim to bounce back after losing the final two games of this series when they play host to first place Okanagan College, who are 8-2 in their last 10 games. Victoria now holds a 6-5 record, good enough to place them third in the CCBC during their first year in the league.

Game time for the first game on Friday is 6:00 p.m., while a doubleheader on Saturday begins at noon. The teams will then wrap up their four game series with a single game starting at noon on Sunday.