The Victoria Eagles scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning to steal a 4-3 victory away from crosstown rivals the Victoria Mariners in B.C. Premier Baseball League play at Royal Athletic Park on a cool Tuesday evening.
It was Zack Downey and his family who came out the big winners in a special fundraiser to assist the 17-year-old Mariners’ pitcher/third baseman, who is battling non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
A total of $5,454.17 was raised as 862 fans dug deep.
“It was an unbelievable night, raising more than $5,000. It’s a win for me and our team has to look at it like it is, too, because any time you can help out a kid like Zack and his family is awesome,” said Mariners manager Mike Chewpoy.
“They’re the best people I know and they deserve everything they got tonight. I hope it helps.”
On the field, it was just the second regular-season loss to the cross-town Eagles, who scored the last two runs of the game on an errant throw by Mariners third baseman Tanner Hess with two outs, which would have salted the game.
Down 3-1 entering the seventh, the Eagles scored three times for the comeback.
Brandon Feldman then came on in relief of starting Eagles pitcher Riley Edmonds and ended it with an unassisted double play by shortstop Zane Takhar, who snared David Warren’s flare with men on first and second with one out.
“It was quite a ball game, probably one of the best ball games we’ve been a part of,” said Eagles manger Gautam Srivistava. “Doing the charity thing for Zack Downey was awesome and raising so much money for him was great. It was great to see so many people out, especially young kids.”
The Downey family was overwhelmed by the reception and the generosity of the fans, who cheered loudly as Zack threw out the ceremonial first pitch and was named honorary player of the game afterward.
And tickets were free of charge courtesy of the Victoria HarbourCats, who used the game as dry run in preparation for their West Coast League home opener next Wednesday.
“It’s a really good crowd. It’s mind-blowing to see this many here,” said dad Wayne Downey, who wasn't sure what to expect with sketchy weather. “When I woke up this morning and saw the rain, I thought this might not be too good for the crowd, but it was nice to see some blue [sky] out there.”
And even better to see Zack take in the game in the Mariners’ dugout.
“He’s been very excited from the time he woke up, he just wanted to go,” said Wayne. “He was excited about coming down and being a part of this whole thing.
“It really means a lot to us, just to see him with a smile on his face again. We’ve had some really hard months that have gone by here of late and this has been so heart-warming with people being so generous to us.”
The Eagles struck first in the top of the second inning as Will Wild’s grounder was gobbled up by shortstop Chris Foughner, but managed to score R.J. Forbes who had reached by beating out a ground ball.
Forbes advanced to third on Mitch Hawkins’ double to left-centre field.
The Mariners responded with a run in the fourth as Fougner’s single to right scored Jesse Mycock, who was hit by Riley Edmonds and stole second. It was the first hit of the night for the Mariners, who stranded a pair in the inning due to a second hit batsman.
Evan Willow made it 2-1 Mariners in the fifth as he singled, was sacrificed over and eventually scored on an error. The M’s added another in the sixth as Fougner scored on a ground-out by Brendan Somers, but they failed to finish it off.
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