Victoria Golden Tide made a late-in-the-game comeback during their fifth outing as a formally organized baseball team, beating the Victoria Mariners during a Wilson’s Group Stadium exhibition game on Saturday, Oct. 2.
The Camosun College/UVic baseball team win at the diamond came after the team overcame a 6-3 deficit by scoring six runs in the eighth inning to win 9-6.
In the first inning, the Tide’s starting pitcher, Nate Horricks, struggled to keep Mariners off the plates; three errors gave the Mariners three runs with a hit. Mariners pitcher Matt Druin had similar issues, however, allowing the Tide a pair of runs at the bottom of the inning.
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A 20-minute light malfunction at the arena reset the pitching on both sides after the first inning.
Despite corrected visibility, both teams struggled to gain momentum on offence over the next few innings until the Tide tied the game 3-3 at the bottom of the second.
Mariner points in the fifth and seventh innings would see them temporarily in the lead, 6-3, before the Tide rolled back in the eighth to tie it up.
Then, after another run put them ahead for the first time of the game after Tide batter Ryan Deale smoked a single to right, scoring two, giving his team a 9-6 lead heading into the ninth inning.
Since it was an exhibition game, both teams agreed to play to the bottom of the ninth with no additional scoring.
Tide will return to Wilson’s Group Stadium for a Black versus Gold intrasquad double-header on Saturday, Oct. 16 at 1 p.m. Their next action is the CCBC Fall Championship tournament in Kelowna over the Thanksgiving weekend.
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