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Backdoor Bulldogs beaten in B.C. senior men's final
Tom Berridge, sports editor
The defending B.C. champion Burnaby Bulldogs failed to win a ticket to the senior men's baseball national championships.
Instead, the Bulldogs earned a berth in the Western Canadian championships, a spot reserved for the No. 2 team in the province.
The Bulldogs lost two games to the Nanaimo Coal Miners at the Pacific Western B.C. senior baseball championships held in Burnaby, including a 3-0 loss in the tournament final Monday at Robert Burnaby Park.
"They (Nanaimo) are a good team and they really played well all weekend. _ They're deserving of it," said Burnaby coach Tim Fehr, who was named the top pitcher in the tourney.
Burnaby was one pitch away from taking the opening game from Nanaimo.
Up 4-2 with two out in the seventh and the count at two strikes, the usually strong Bulldog pitching gave up a big inning en route to an 8-5 loss.
The defeat eventually sent the 'Dogs through the back door and three games on the final Monday, while the Miners rested and waited for the double-knockout final to begin.
Fehr pitched a gem Monday, blanking Trail 4-0 to set Burnaby up for the road to the final.
Burnaby ousted Victoria 7-1 on multi-hit games from Keith Radix, Jon Bosnick and Trevor Murray, who went five for 12 on the final day.
The Bulldogs then defeated Surrey 11-7. R.J. Pearce had a no-hitter going into the sixth inning. Mike Sinclair got the save to set up a showdown with Nanaimo in the final.
"We had to beat them two times. But the expectations for us were very high. We've been down this road before and came back on the last day and won," said Fehr. "I can't say enough about the character of our team. We battled for hopefully what we think is ours. We didn't give it up easily. On the bench was an expectation that we were going to pull it out."
But, despite runners on in every inning, Burnaby could not get a run home. Nanaimo broke a scoreless draw in the fourth inning and then scored two more in the bottom of the sixth.
With the loss, Burnaby will travel to Edmonton for the Western Canadians Aug. 12 to 14.
"It never feels good when someone takes away your toys," Fehr said in reference to losing the B.C. title. "We earned what we got and we expected more. But the consolation prize still has a negative connotation to it. It's still second place and its not what we came into this expecting, especially in our own yard."
published on 08/03/2005
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