BELLINGHAM聽 8
VICTORIA聽 0
The Victoria HarbourCats are hoping their once-vaunted offence鈥檚 Great Vanishing Act doesn鈥檛 end up being worthy of Vegas.
No pitching staff in the West Coast League had been able to figure out the HarbourCats鈥� formidable hitters. That was until the Bellingham Bells came into Wilson鈥檚 Group Stadium at Royal Athletic Park this weekend to force a deciding game this afternoon for the WCL North Division first-half title and playoff berth that goes with it.
Needing only one win in the three-game set to clinch the first-half championship, it seemed merely a formality for the HarbourCats, especially with Bellingham looking like road kill when they rolled onto Caledonia Street after losing three straight games in Yakima Valley to the Pippins.
The HarbourCats, meanwhile, came into the series on a seven-game overall winning streak and 10-game home victory skein before Friday night鈥檚 12-2 loss to the Bells. That is now a two-game losing skid following the Bells鈥� 8-0 victory on Saturday evening.
The baseball universe has a way of evening things out. This is a sport of swings, both at the plate and otherwise.
Bellingham starter Logan Hatley stymied Victoria鈥檚 offence Saturday, which came into the series with 10 players hitting above .300 in a sort of WCL version of Murderer鈥檚 Row.
Hatley, from Western Oregon University, held the HarbourCats to two hits and two walks while striking out nine over six complete innings.
As a result, the Bells moved one game behind the HarbourCats and hold the tiebreaker.
Hatley鈥檚 performance came after Bells starter Nick Proctor, from NCAA Pac-12 UC-Berkeley, dampened Victoria to one-hit with six strikeouts and two-walks over five full shutout innings on Friday as the HCats mustered just three hits overall that night.
Victoria鈥檚 four hits on Saturday came from Parker Bramlett, Nick Plaia, Griffin Paxton and Frankie Niemann from the NCAA Tulane Green Wave, who leads the WCL in batting at .442.
The HarbourCats will need to conjure up their lost offence in today's matin茅e that will decide the division first-half championship.
The Bells have a history over the years of bedevilling Victoria鈥檚 championship aspirations.
Today is the bring-your-dog-to-the- ballpark game. The HarbourCats will be trying to stop their first half of the season from going to the dogs.
