Trojans Capture Zone 4 Baseball Championship

For a second straight season, the PCI Trojans are Zone 4 baseball champions.

Tyler Van Deynze hit a go-ahead, one-run double in the sixth inning as the Portage Collegiate Institute (PCI) Trojans edged the W.C. Miller Aces 10-9 to capture the 2017 Manitoba High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) Zone 4 Baseball championship Tuesday evening at Republic Park in Portage la Prairie.

“We definitely got pushed here today, more than we have all year,” said Trojans coach Jay Dewis. “It was just a slug-off pretty much and we're happy to end up on the right end of it.”

After W.C. Miller tied the game 9-9 in the top of the sixth on a pass ball, Joey Moffatt started a rally for PCI in the bottom half with a one-out double. Van Deynze then stepped up with two away and smacked a hard line drive to left field that evaded the Aces' first baseman and scored the go-ahead run.

“I was just trying to put a good swing on it and put the ball in play,” Van Deynze recalled. “We went back and forth with these guys, they put in a good effort. We played well.”

Both teams came out slugging. W.C. Miller jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning, then PCI answered with five in the bottom half to take a 5-3 lead. The Aces came right back with two runs in the second to make it 5-5.

Then in the third, an error by the Aces' left fielder allowed the Trojans to score two runs and go up 7-5. In the fourth, Matt Boychuk and Jayson Brooks each had RBI basehits to extend PCI's lead to 9-5.

But the Aces' offence would respond. In the fifth inning, after a sac fly cut the lead to 9-6, W.C. Miller made it a one-run game with a two-run double off Chance Dickenson, who entered in relief of Brody Moffatt. The Trojans' four-run lead disappeared in the sixth, as a lead-off walk found its way to third base and eventually scored on a pass-ball to tie the game 9-9.

Joey Moffatt picked up the win and the save for PCI, retiring the side in order in the seventh inning, and finishing with three strikeouts in just 1 2/3 innings. The Trojan's starting pitcher, Brody Moffatt, struck out four and walked zero while allowing eight runs, seven earned, in 4 1-3 innings of work. Dickenson allowed one unearned run while striking out two and walking two in his one inning relief appearance.

It was a dominant season for the Trojans (12-1-1). They finished on a 12-game unbeaten streak, with their last loss in MHSAA Zone 4 regular season/playoff action coming all the way back on May 1 to W.C. Miller. PCI also boast a plus-83 run differential having plated 119 — or about 9.9 runs per game — while only allowing 36 through the Zone 4 regular season and playoffs.

Up next is the MHSAA Provincial Baseball Championship June 1-3 in Altona, where the Trojans will be looking to put in another strong showing in wake of a second-place finish at the 2016 tournament.

“All the boys are looking forward to that,” said PCI's Brody Moffatt. “You don't get to go to provincials very often, so when you do it's special. You've got to take it all in and when you're there you have to bear down, make sure you're hitting well and pitching well.”

SANFORD STUNG IN SEMIS

The Trojans booked their ticket into the Zone 4 championship game with a 17-7 win over the Sanford Sabres earlier Tuesday afternoon.

Lane Taylor and Chance Dickenson each had three RBIs as part of a 19-hit PCI attack.

Jayson Brooks picked up the win on the mound, striking out three and walking three, while allowing seven runs, five earned, on nine hits in 4 2/3 innings. Joey Moffatt struck out three and allowed just one hit in 1 1/3 scoreless innings of relief work.