Baseballs at the 2016 World Baseball Challenge seem to be leaving Citizen Field at a faster rate than the Perseid Meteor Shower in Prince George.
4 more home runs were recorded during a 6-5 come from behind thriller on Saturday between Canadian Sidearm Nation and the Thurston County Senators with Sidearm coming out victorious.
The mini-home run derby began to take shape in the bottom of the 2nd thanks to a two-run bomb by Kevin Czarnecki to give Sidearm a 2-0 after to two complete.
The Senators would storm right back with long-balls of their own courtesy of a solo shot by Keone McKee and a two run homer by d’Aundra Van Slyke to give the visitors a 3-2 advantage.
JP Wilner would continue the airshow in the bottom of the 4th to make it a 4-3 game for Thurston County.
Sidearm would then take a 5-4 lead after 7 innings courtesy of a ground rule double by Brent Cooper.
Bryan Lounsbury would then pop-out to right field and tie up the game for the Senators.
However the game would end on a Justin Johnston single that brought home Joey Underwood to seal the victory.
Sidearm Third Baseman, Kevin Czarnecki says he had a feeling the ball had a chance of leaving the park when he made contact. “It felt good off the bat and I was just trying not to do too much at the plate. The ball carries well here so if you make good contact it has a chance”
Thurston County Manager, Abe Lupkin says he wasn’t completely shocked with the amount of balls that left the field.
“We have some guys that can hit the ball pretty hard, but it was a pleasant surprise to get a homer from our leadoff guy but any of these guys from either side get a hold of a fastball they will put it away.”
Sidearm Nation improves to 1-1 and will play on Monday against the Roswell Invaders while Thurston County faces the Kamloops Sun Devils in a battle of 0-1 teams at 8PM on Sunday.