Ridge Meadows Team Blue, behind the solid pitching of lefty Kyle Ross, qualifed for the provincial junior men’s baseball championships Wednesday with a 4-0 win over South Delta.
Ross went the league maximum five innings, allowing no runs and only three batters to reach base.
Chad Weststeyn pitched an inning and a third, also allowing not runs, while Cole Benard closed out the game.
Kyron Smith led off the first inning with a single, then stole two bases and scored on a pass ball.
Seth Injates had two hits, a single and a double and was a standout defensively in the outfield, along with Ryley Lycan and Cory Valle, the latter of whom made a diving catch to start a double-play.
Team Blue dropped its first game of the junior baseball season on Sunday, 4-3 to North Shore at Larry Walker Field.
Blue is now 2-1 in the playoffs after going 14-0 in the regular season, during which it outscored opponents 124-16.
Ridge opened the playoffs the previous week with a 12-2 win over White Rock.
Ross started on the mound for Blue against White Rock, exiting after four innings down 2-0.
“Kyle had great control of his pitches, but in the heat of the day the defence had let him down,” said coach Mark Tupper.
But Blue’s bats awakened in the sixth, first with a lead-off double by Landon White. Ridge went on to score seven runs in the inning.
Weststeyn came on in relief of Ross and kept the Tritons off balance for the next three innings, allowing one hit and no runs.
Team Blue added five more runs in the and closer Benard sealed the deal, sending the last three Triton batters back to their dugout.
Ross played minor baseball in Ridge before joining the Langley Blaze program, then laying for Team Canada and at the university level in Texas.
His catcher, Brendan Halstrom, is another Ridge graduate of the Blaze program and Team Canada alumni. He will be returning south to play university ball in Kentucky in September. ]
“Brendan ended this past spring university ball season as the league’s batting champion,” Tupper said.
• The provincial final will be played on Sunday, a 11 a.m. at Hammond stadium.