by Aaron Torres

KAMLOOPS, BC- It’s been over 20 years since the Midnight Sun Goldpanners have been to the Kamloops International Baseball Tournament. If they’re not careful, their stay may be shorter than expected.

David Duetchman’s bases loaded throwing error in the bottom of the 8^th inning plated the winning run, as the Seattle Studs beat the Goldpanners 2-1 in extra innings in the opener of the Kamloops tournament for both teams (all games except for the championship in Kamloops are only seven innings).

The play was set up when reliever Elliot Van Gaver hit the first two batters of the inning, before walking Garrett Breda to set up the jam. With no outs, No. 9 hitter Chris Pascual attempted to lay down a suicide squeeze but instead popped it up, right into the first baseman Duetchman’s glove. But with the runner on third breaking, Duetchman rushed his throw back to third, overthrowing Josh Kalalau, allowing the runner to come home.

Although the error is what ultimately cost the Goldpanners a victory, it didn’t help that the team mustered just two hits on the evening.

The only run for the visitors came in the 5^th inning, when Duetchman himself led off with a walk before advancing to second on a Kalalau single. After a wild pitch put Duetchman at third, Travis Andersen hit a sacrifice fly to make the score 1-0 Goldpanners. Besides that rally, the Goldpanners bats were shut down by both starter David Benson and reliever Taylor Thompson who combined to strike out nine Goldpanners in eight innings.

The Goldpanners gave up their first run of the game, just after taking the lead. Shane Schoenberg led off the bottom of the 5^th with a triple, and was plated by the very next batter Mark Rockey. The score remained 1-1 until the 8^th inning error.

For the Goldpanners, play will resume Friday in the loser’s bracket in Kamloops. They will play the host, Kamloops Sun Devils, losers to the Fraser Valley Red Sox 9-6 in the first game Thursday. Game time is set for 3 p.m.