Vaughan
August 22, 2008 12:28 PM
Mike Hayakawa, Staff Writer
The Vaughan Vikings peewees have a flair for the dramatic at the 2008 Canadian National Peewee Baseball Championships.
Serving as hosts for this year’s event at the Concord Regional Park, the Vikings had to come from behind
in two of their first three pool games and are undefeated.
After defeating Summerside, PEI 11-7 in their first game Thursday
morning, the Vikings rallied to defeat New Brunswick 15-11 later that
day.
In that contest, the Vikings trailed 11-0, but erupting for eight runs in the bottom of the sixth inning with two outs.
Resuming pool play Friday, the Vikings trailed Alberta 8-3 in the
fourth inning before whittling away at their deficit with a run in the
fifth and sixth innings to set the stage for a dramatic bottom of the
seventh inning in which they scored three runs for a 9-8 win.
In that final frame, Gianmarco Luciani and Drake Drieberg led off the
inning with walks. After both runners advanced on a balk, Luciani
scored on a wild pitch. A single by Marcus Rozsa scored Marc-Anthony
Pellegrino, who pinch ran for Drieberg, to tie the game. Rozsa then
stole second and advanced to third base on a balk. He scored the
game-winning run on a wild pitch.
Stefano Augurusa pitched 1 2/3 innings of relief to earn the win.
The Vikings are scheduled to resume action later today against Quebec
at 2:30 p.m. and conclude pool play Saturday against B.C. at 2:30 p.m.
The tournament is scheduled to wind down Sunday at Concord Regional
Park with the bronze medal game at 3 p.m. and gold medal game at 6 p.m.
For more on the peewee tournament schedule, log on to: www.baseball.ca