Coming out on the short end of an intense pitching duel, the Kelowna Sun Devils missed out on defending their B.C. 18U AAA Baseball League championship on Sunday in Burnaby.

A two-run homer by Nicholas Santarelli in the fourth inning proved the difference as the North Fraser Nationals upset the regular-season-champion Sun Devils 2-1 in a semifinal encounter at Robert Burnaby Park.

Photo Credit: Lorne White/KelownaNowThe Sun Devils' Nathan Ringness-Law limited North Fraser to five hits, but suffered a 2-1 loss.The Burnaby-based Nationals, third-place finishers in the regular season, went on to defeat the surprising seventh-place North Island 11-5 in the championship game on Sunday.

Santarelli’s blast over the right-centrefield fence was one of only five hits given up by the Sun Devils’ starting pitcher, Nathan Ringness-Law, who threw 5  1/3 innings and struck out four. Jordan Laidlaw was perfect on the mound in relief.

Photo Credit: Lorne White/KelownaNowTyson Lamb led the Sun Devils with two hits, including a triple, and scored the team's lone run in the semifinal.Offensively, the Sun Devils were stymied by the pitching of the Nationals’ Michael Ellis, whose superb curveball and fastball led to 10 strikeouts in a four-hit performance. 

Tyson Lamb connected for two of the Sun Devils’ four hits, one of them a triple in the first inning. He scored the lone run on a subsequent passed ball. Dreyton Nelmes and Adam Renneberg were the only other Kelowna batters to reach with a base hit.

Photo Credit: Lorne White/KelownaNowRookie Adam Renneberg stroked one of only four Sun Devils hits in their final game of the season.“It was a heck of a game that ended a heck of a season. It should have been the championship game,” said Sun Devils’ head coach Rob Law. “We just couldn’t execute offensively against very a good pitcher. It’s too bad because Nathan (Ringness-Law) was great on the mound as well.”

First-place finishers in the regular season with an overall record of 35-2-1, the Sun Devils opened the eight-team provincial tournament by defeating the Richmond City Chuckers 14-6 and the Cloverdale Spurs 10-0.

Photo Credit: ContributedThe 18U AAA Kelowna Sun Devils 2018, from left, front: Jack Janzen, David Osborn, Blake Badger, Spencer Klassen, Rob Law (head coach), Jaimes Guidon, Tyson Lamb, Dreyton Nelmes and Nathan Ringness-Law. Back: Derek Renneberg (pitching coach), Jordan Laidlaw, Matt Fuchs, Connor Lamb, Logan Bligh, Adam Renneberg, Brady Renneberg, Jackson Sowerby, Ethan Soroka and Jeff Bligh (assistant coach).Having already clinched a semifinal berth, the Sun Devils dropped a 12-4 decision to the North Shore Padres in their final round-robin game.

In spite of the semifinal loss, coach Law praised his team’s performance at the provincial tournament and throughout the season.

“I’m so proud of these young men. They left it all on the field and I’m sure they’ll be back next year to give it a shot again. We have 11 players eligible to play in 2019, so the experience they gained this year will go a long way in getting them back to Provincials.”