The Howe Sound Cannons baseball team made their hometown fans proud Saturday (May 8) winning the first two home turf games at Laroy Watt Stadium.
An afternoon full of cracking Cannon bats resulted in two big wins against the North Shore A's with scores of 9-1 and 6-0.
"We played solid. We didn't make any errors. We hit the ball well, played well and pitched well," said team manager and outfielder David Jones.
"There were no weak spots on either game."
Jones said the team played the home openers exactly how they wanted to.
Lobbing the baseball into right field, Justin Kraznowski hit the first homerun on home turf for the Cannons during the first play of the day. He was met with high fives from his teammates as he rounded home plate and applause from the hometown crowd.
"He's after that homerun crown," Jones laughed.
With eight strikeouts, four hits and plenty of topnotch plays, Cannon pitcher Jeremy Galley, in typical fashion, dominated both games by preventing most A's players from reaching first base.
"That's usually the case," said Jones.
Jones said the A's might claim a moral victory over the Cannons for enduring two great games, but that's the only type of victory they can claim. Jones compared the A's performance to fighting it out with Roy Jones Jr. in his heyday.
"At least you didn't get knocked out in five innings," he laughed.
With about a dozen fans in the left field bleachers and another dozen sitting in lawn chairs and the end of the third base line, the hometown crowd was having a blast.
"That crowd got louder as the day wore on," said Jones.
He said a good turnout is always appreciated because fans are generally supportive, enthusiastic and can be used as last minute fill-in players if the need arises.
"More fans usually mean more people we can recruit if we need to."
The Cannons are scheduled to play the Brewers - one of the toughest teams in the North Shore Men's Baseball Association league - at Parkgate South at 6:45 p.m. Saturday (May 15).
"They're stacked. They're good," said Jones.
The Cannons play the A's again at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday (May 18) at Parkgate South before heading off to defend their title as Doug Conn Memorial Cup Champions in Victoria over the long weekend.
