The early portion of the B.C. Premier Baseball League season hasn't been kind to the Abbotsford Cardinals, but an offensive explosion on Sunday afternoon offered a ray of hope.
The Coquitlam Reds won the front half of the doubleheader at DeLair Park 3-2 in extra innings, but the Cards battered the Reds' pitching staff in a 13-2 blowout in the back half.
The game ended after five innings via the mercy rule, and the offensive outburst represented more than a quarter of the 44 runs the Cards have scored to this point of the season.
Abby catcher Tyler Krahn had a big game from the leadoff spot, going 4-for-5 at the plate with two RBIs. Brandon Todoruk drove in three runs, while Matt Buse and Steven Federau also had multi-hit outings.
The victory also featured a terrific pitching performance from Abby starter Brand Molnar, who no-hit the Reds over five innings, but surrendered a pair of unearned runs after his teammates committed four errors.
"The boys have been battling hard lately, and there were signs in the first game that things were coming around – we just couldn't punch one through when we needed to,” noted Cards coach Andy Rempel, whose team now sits at 5-10 on the year. “The second game, it just seemed like things came together.
"We obviously had a bad start to the year, but if we keep working hard the way we have, we'll get to .500 and we'll get past that."