HYDE CREEK—Complete-game pitching efforts by Curtis Martyn and Dave Stewart and some timely hitting lifted the Port Hardy Cubs to a sweep of two North Vancouver Island Baseball League games last week.
Thursday's 11-2 win over the Hyde Creek Hillbillys and Sunday's 14-4 victory over the Port McNeill Rangers vaulted the Cubs (7-1) back into the driver's seat in the race for the regular-season league title with just two weeks remaining until the league playoffs.
Martyn homered in both games and Stewart and Chris Lamothe also went deep in the win over Port McNeill.
Martyn scattered six hits in Thursday's win and threw five shutout innings after Hillbillys leadoff hitter Tom Cessford walked and came around to score on a hit by Ivan Hall in the first.
It was the only lead Hyde Creek would enjoy.
Hillbillys starter Jason West breezed through two innings and had two outs with a runner aboard in the third when the Cubs broke through. Martyn and Chris Lamothe delivered consecutive run-scoring doubles and Rod Romas followed with an RBI single.
One inning later, the Cubs enjoyed another two-out, three-run rally when Martyn followed back-to-back singles by Hugh Connon and Lukas Jones with a three-run home run. Martyn added a double as the Cubs put the game away with a five-run fifth inning that made it 11-1.
Cubs 14, Rangers 4
Stewart settled down after spotting Port McNeill a 2-0 lead in the second inning, and aided his own cause by belting a fourth-inning homer with two runners aboard.
Martyn and Lamothe hit back-to-back homers in the bottom of the third inning and Stewart added an RBI single as the Cubs reached the five-run limit. They hit the limit again in the fourth, which featured singles by Jason Hodson, Jones, Martyn and Romas before Stewart's blast put the Cubs ahead 10-2.
The Rangers got a run back the next inning on an RBI single by Jason Evans, but that was all Port McNeill could manage until Evans singled and scored on a fielder's choice by Byron Johnson in the final inning.