1979 Vancouver, Lower Mainland, Fraser Valley
1979 BC Interior
1979 Vancouver Island
PACIFIC METRO BASEBALL LEAGUE / Canadian Senior Championship
Results of regular-season games played between May and July in this 1979 circuit simply never appeared in either of the Vancouver daily publications. It doesn’t appear that the league had any publicity function in place for transmitting happenings within the loop to the public and the newspapers, for their part, never saw any need to pursue senior amateur baseball material, considered low priority, for their respective sports sections. Come the month of August, however, a few snippets relative to playoff action began to appear.
Bellingham
Bells
Burnaby Astors
New Westminster Auroras
North Shore Mountaineers
Richmond Fraser Arms
Surrey Sports
Vancouver Pharaohs
Vancouver Puccinis
(August 8) Ossie Chavarria and Ken Moore each rapped three hits Wednesday as Burnaby Astors stopped the Vancouver Pharaohs 9-4 in the opening game of the BC Senior Baseball championships at Central Park. Astors touched three Vancouver pitchers for 14 hits while Stan Dean went the distance for the winners allowing just six safeties. Larry Mann took the loss. Chavarria knocked in three runs while Moore scored three times.
PLAYOFFS
SENIOR “A” PROVINCIAL FINALS Burnaby Astors vs Vancouver Pharaohs (best of-five series)
(August 9) Rick Mosher tossed a six-hitter as the Vancouver Pharaohs evened their best-of-five provincial senior A finals with a 4 to 3 win over the Burnaby Astors at Queen’s Park Stadium.
(August 10-11) Vancouver's Keith Wilson toosed two scoreless frames in the first game then went the distance in the nightcap as the Pharaohs downed Burnaby Astors 2-1 and 6-2 to take the best--of-five series three games to one. Terry Schuss and Burt Haas slammed three hits apiece in the 6-2 triumph while Schuss singled and scored the winning run on Rick Bultitude's double in the opener. Pharaohs now represent BC at the Canadian Senior Championships in Chatham, New Brunswick.
(August 15) Vancouver Pharaohs battled back from an 8-1 deficit to edge Saskatchewan 9-8 in a rain interrupted opening game of the Canadian Senior Baseball championships at Chatham, New Brunswick. Tony Powell's two-out single in the bottom of the tenth inning brought home the winning run. BC trailed 5-0 when the game was halted earlier in the day because of rain. Following a six-hour delay, during which a helicopter was used to dry out the field, Saskatchewan scored three more times to take an 8-1 lead in the sixth inning. However, BC exploded for six runs in the bottom of the sixth highlighted by Ron Turner's grand slam homer. Rick Gergley had earlier cracked a grand slam for Saskatchewan. Rick Bultitude's second double of the game gave BC the tying run in the eighth. In the other opening day game, Quebec defeated Newfoundland 11-7.
(August 15-18) Canadian Senior “A” championship tournament
(August 16) Carey Johnson's sterling relief hurling helped British Columbia into medal contention Thursday as the Vancouver Pharaohs downed Windsor Chiefs, the Ontario representatives, 9-4. Johnson allowed only two hits in 6 1/3 innings. Pharaohs broke a 4-4 tie with three runs in the sixth inning. The Ontario nine had rallied from a 4-0 deficit against starter Rick Mosher. He left the game with one out and two runners aboard in the third inning. Burt Haas keyed the big sixth inning with a two-run single. Rick Bultitude had three hits, including a solo home run. Kevin Pardis had a homer for Windsor. Earlier Thursday, Mike Price cracked a pair of two-run homers to lead Windsor to an 8-4 victory over Barrhead, Alberta. Paul Rutckyj had a four-bagger for the Alberta team. Chatham Ironmen, the host club, defeated Quebec's St. Maurice Valley Call-Stars 17-10 as Kevin Keith clubbed a pair of two-run homers and scored three times. Scott Harvey, Cuffy McLaughlin and Brian Cox added circuit blows for Chatham.
(August 16) Again, BC charged from behind to advance to the championship final with a dramatic 10-8 victory over the Chatham Ironmen. Behind 8-3 in the eighth inning, BC loaded the bases and Tony Powell, who drove in the winning run in Wednesdays come-from-behind win over Saskatchewan, cleared the bases with a grand-slam home run. In the ninth, Don Gurniak opened with a walk, advanced on a sacrifice and passed ball. Warren Coughlin singled to bring in Gurniak with the tying marker. Terry Schuss then smacked a two-run homer for the win. Stan Dean was the winning pitcher. BC, represented by the Vancouver Pharaohs, carry a 3-0 record with wins over New Brunswick, Ontario and Saskatchewan and face Barrhead Blue Jays of Alberta in the final.
(August 18) Yet another grand slam homer highlighted BC's 11-4 triumph over Alberta for the Canadian Senior Baseball championship. Terry Schuss contributed RBI singles in the first and third frames off losing pitcher Brian Hamagami to get the winners rolling and Rick Bultitude ended the onslaught with a bases-loaded homer in the eighth. Blue Jays collected 12 hits off winning hurler Larry Mann but managed just a single run until the bottom of the ninth when Steve Moberly drilled a three-run homer. Two of the Pharaohs were selected for the tournament's all-star team, Bultitude at third base and Tony Powell in left field. Gary Picone of Barrhead was chosen as the most valuable player.
Lower Mainland Playoffs
Junior "A"
(August 7) Gord Fitzer hurled a four-hitter Monday as Burnaby Brentwood shutout the Surrey Stampeders at Whalley Stadium in the opening game of a best-of-seven Pacific Coast Junior "A" provincial final. Barrie Penman stroked a two-run homer for the winners.
(August 8) Burnaby and Surrey battled to a 3-3 draw in the second game of their final series. Darkness forced the game to be called after nine innings. Surrey took a 3-1 lead into the final frame but John Gildersleeve's bases-loaded single salvaged the tie for Burnaby.
(August 9) Jim Paquette picked up a pair of victories as the Surrey Sandpipers edged Burnaby Brentwood Glass 4 to 3 in the completion of a game that was suspended with the score tied 3 – 3 and then went to distance in the second game as Surrey prevailed once more by an identical 4 to 3 margin. The double victories gave the Sandpipers a 3 – 1 edge in the best-of-seven finals.
(August 18) Canadian Junior "A" Championship Tournament