A.J. Alcantara is the quiet man of the Victoria HarbourCats, but he carries a loud bat and an even louder glove.
For the third time this season, the outfielder got his glove above the fence line to make a home-run saving catch. If that wasn鈥檛 enough, Alcantara鈥檚 sharply hit RBI single provided the winning run in the seventh inning in a 3-2 Victoria win over the Walla Walla Sweets before a Thursday work-day matin茅e crowd of 1,301 at Royal Athletic Park.
It was his defensive theatrics that were the talk of the game, however. Alcantara denied Sweets batter Braden Williams the home run in the fifth inning on Thursday. Walla Walla led 2-1 and there was a man on second. If Williams鈥� potential two-run shot had gone over, the Sweets would have led 4-1.
鈥淭hat saved the game for me . . . it really did,鈥� said Victoria starting pitcher Josh Mitchell.
鈥淭he guys had my back, especially A.J. with his catch.鈥�
That was despite the three errors the HarbourCats recorded on the day.
Mitchell moved to 6-0 with a final line that read four hits and two earned runs allowed with no walks and an impressive 10 strikeouts.
Victoria head coach Graig Merritt doffed his cap to both Mitchell and Alcantara, the latter who doesn鈥檛 say much off the diamond, but who lets his play on it do the talking for him. Alcantara leads the HarbourCats with a .372 batting average.
鈥淎.J. is our quiet leader . . . our quiet MVP,鈥� said Merritt. 鈥淗e is a tremendous athlete who can play any sport. He does it all.鈥�
To make three splashy catches at the fence in a short West Coast League season is rare.
鈥淭hose are fun catches to make,鈥� said Alcantara.
鈥淭o get three of them is huge and I鈥檓 glad it鈥檚 helped the team. I got a good jump on this one.鈥�
What鈥檚 even more amazing is Alcantara has done it without benefit of a warning track, which Royal Athletic Park lacks.
鈥淚t鈥檚 tough without a warning track, but all our outfielders are good about communicating with each other,鈥� said Alcantara.
The NCAA UC-Irvine player also said the HarbourCats outfielders have taught themselves local knowledge about how to reach out their arms and hands to feel the fence to know their whereabouts on fly balls that go to the wall.
The HarbourCats (34-11) swept the three-game series against the Sweets (23-22), named after a famous onion grown in southeast Washington state. That makes up for being swept in Walla Walla in the opening series of the season.
鈥淭hey put us 0-3 to start the season, and we owed them,鈥� said Merritt. 鈥淲e got revenge on them.鈥�
The Sweets were wearing one of the wittiest jerseys in baseball. It reads just 鈥淲alla鈥� across the chest with a small number 鈥�2鈥� printed above it to denote Walla squared. The Sweets got the early jump on a solo home run by Hayden Duer in the top of the second inning. The HarbourCats leveled when Jake Stone doubled in the bottom of the second inning and was brought home by a Ryan Anderson double.
With Walla Walla leading 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning, Tommy Jew was put out but still scored Stone from third to tie the game 2-2. Alcantara鈥檚 single scored Matt Lautz for the winning run in the bottom of the seventh.
Fresno State鈥檚 Stone had three hits and two runs scored and UC-Davis鈥� Brad Pluschkell two hits for Victoria. HarbourCats reliever Austin Dondanville, the Cal Poly thrower who also starts, shut the door in the final two innings with no hits, walks or runs allowed and four strikeouts.
The HarbourCats now head to Bellingham to take on the Bells (24-20 heading into Thursday night鈥檚 game against Cowlitz) in a three-game set beginning tonight.
