Marlins rally to claim 11U AA provincial title
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The Brandon Marlins came up clutch with their backs against the wall when it mattered most.
Trailing in both their 11-and-under AA provincial baseball semifinal and gold-medal games, the Marlins came back to win 6-5 twice to win the championship.
“That winning moment was just a bunch of relief, really,” said head coach Jonathan Kirkup.
The Brandon Marlins won the 11U AA baseball provincial title on Sunday. (Submitted)
“It was a tightly battled game and to figure out a way to win it, it was a bunch of relief.”
Five of the Brandon players had already won the A Tier 1 title a few weeks ago, including two original Brandon Mariners and three pickups.
The team included Marx Boguski, Luke Kirkup, Alex Major, Andrew Wilson, Jasper Jamieson, Jackson Geekie, Luke Kyle, Jory Warrener, Cole Hartman, Brooks Hackywicz, Grady Duthie and Jaxon Winter.
Coach Kirkup and his staff of Rob Wilson, Scott Major and Mark Geekie had high expectations for the group.
“We went in there knowing we were one of the favourites and had the ability to win the whole thing,” Kirkup said.
“Obviously you’ve got to get lucky along the way and play well and there were some other good teams, but we knew we were going to be one of the contenders.”
The Marlins rolled through pool play, with a 13-1 win over Altona, a 12-5 victory over Reston/Hartney, an 8-5 decision over Corydon and an 11-0 shutout of North Winnipeg.
The decisive wins helped save Brandon’s pitchers and allowed Kirkup to throw all the guys he wanted to in the semifinals and final.
However, the semi against Pembina Hills South didn’t start as planned, with Brandon going down 5-1 in the top of the second inning.
“We knew we had a big deficit to overcome. We just chipped away at it,” Kirkup said.
The Marlins plated two runs in the second and two more in the third to tie it. Then, Luke Kirkup drove in Boguski two innings later for the winning run.
Kirkup said the key was Hackywicz, who pitched four terrific innings in relief, recording six strikeouts and allowing just one hit.
Alex Major started the final and gave up two runs in the opening frame, but got out of a bases-loaded jam to prevent Winkler from running away with it.
The Marlins rode a big three-run third inning to lead 4-2, then gave up a home run but restored the two-run edge in the top of the fourth.
Winkler scored two to force extra innings, then came within a few feet of winning it.
But Jamieson saved the season, racing back to the wall to deny a walk-off hit with two outs and a runner on third base.
In the top of the eighth, Major drove in Boguski.
Kyle earned the win, pitching 4 2/3 innings in relief.
“He’s always calm and cool in pressure situations and can always throw strikes for us,” Kirkup said.
» tfriesen@brandonsun.com