The Burnaby Braves pushed it right to the end, finished second at the bantam A baseball provincials after falling 8-7 to Port Coquitlam in the final.
The under-15 squad capped a strong season at the round-robin tournament where Burnaby outscored its competition 57-10.
The Braves advanced to the final by outlasting Vancouver in the semifinal, in a battle where the lead changed hands two times and required extra innings.
During the season, the squad scored 301 runs and gave up just 69 to post a 21-3 record. Leading the way were defensive standouts Jaden Dhillon, Dante Garcea and Jordan Swannie, who tallied 133 putouts. On the mound Nicolas Santarelli struck out 40 batters and yielded just three walks for a 2.00 earned run average, while Jaesung Suh fanned 51 batters over 30 innings.
The stable of eight pitchers – which includes Devin Alsop, Matteo Lesjak, Kevin Morgan, Jack Suttle, Mattias Vaid and Swannie – held the opposition to a .187 batting average.
Offensively, Lesjak led the team with 32 RBI and a .478 batting average, while Alsop chipped in with 28 RBI. Swannie also posted a .478 average at the plate, while Suh was .455.
