KELOWNA 4 - VICTORIA 3
It felt like baseball weather, or close enough to it, for the first time this season at Wilson’s Group Stadium at Royal Athletic Park. Unfortunately, for those rooting for the home side, the Victoria HarbourCats’ performance fell just short of matching the evening conditions.
The Kelowna Falcons (3-4) edged the HarbourCats 4-3 in a West Coast League game to snap Victoria’s three-game winning streak and send the Cats to .500 at 5-5.
A three-run top of the eighth inning gave the visitors a 4-0 lead. The Falcons bats were backed by a pitching staff that allowed only two Victoria hits into the eighth inning and four overall.
Kelowna starter Nickolas Woodcock went 4.2 innings with one hit allowed and seven strikeouts and four walks. Victoria starter Cooper Crompton allowed four hits over four innings but managed to hold the Falcons to just one run.
Dawson Hurford came on for Victoria in relief for three full innings and held Kelowna at bay with no hits allowed and no walks with four strikeouts. The game remained tight until Victoria pitcher Flynn Ridley was rocked for four hits and three runs scored in the eighth inning.
Left-handed batter Joseph Redfield, son of former major-leaguer Joe Redfield, pulled the HarbourCats to within three runs at 4-1 with a solo-shot homer in the bottom of the eighth inning to show again why he is headed from junior college to NCAA Div. 1 Sam Houston State next season.
It was Redfield’s ninth run scored and seventh RBI in 10 games this season for Victoria. He had two hits on the night.
The HarbourCats fought back to within one in the bottom of the ninth inning, with Jake Skipworth’s double scoring Luke Cheng from second base for one of the runs.
That led to some drama with two out. Not wanting to risk facing Redfield’s big bat, Kelowna sent him to first base on an intentional walk. That brought up Clark Henry, who struck out swinging to end the game.
Josh Rolling, an Atlanta Braves selection in the 2019 MLB draft from Sacramento State, had a double for Victoria but the hosts left 12 runners stranded on base.
Meanwhile, the soggy spring provided a rain delay in Friday night’s game between the HarbourCats and Falcons with Victoria prevailing 10-3 into the late hours to win its third consecutive game backed by Grady Morgan’s three hits, two RBIs, a walk and run scored as the NCAA Chico State player elevated his early-season batting average to a torrid .433.
The HarbourCats and Falcons meet again this afternoon at 1:05 p.m. at Royal Athletic Park to conclude their three-game series. Victoria makes its first-ever trip to Kamloops to begin a three-game set Tuesday night against the expansion NorthPaws (5-4 heading into Saturday night).
