Standing next to each other, they are about the long and short of it on the Victoria HarbourCats鈥� mound.
Mikey Wright, whose six-foot-four, 205-pound frame unleashes fastballs that reach 90 miles per hour, got the start Saturday night at Royal Athletic Park for the HCats.
Five-foot-11, 180-pound Shawn Kennedy II will do so today at 1 p.m. as the HarbourCats conclude their season-opening three-game West Coast League set against the Kelowna Falcons with a matin茅e performance.
Wright had a tough night of it, going three innings and giving up three hits, two runs on five walks and two strikeouts Saturday night as the Falcons defeated the HarbourCats 5-2 in WCL action before 3,033 fans. That followed up Victoria鈥檚 9-2 victory Friday over the Falcons at RAP before an opening-day league record crowd of 4,627.
Despite his loss Saturday, Wright is a returnee among a sea of newcomers and looks to be a stabilizing influence after going 4-5 with a 2.96 ERA in nine starts and 10 appearances last year for Victoria.
鈥淚t鈥檚 up to me and Alex [fellow returning HCats pitcher and Friday鈥檚 opening-day winner Alex Rogers, from Nanaimo] to hold it down and show the veteran experience from the mound,鈥� said Wright, the former San Jose State hurler, headed to play next season at Delta College.
Kennedy quipped that Wright, who turns 20 this year, is the 鈥渙ld man鈥� of the Victoria pitching corps, even though both players are the same age.
That鈥檚 fine by Wright, who takes his veteran role seriously.
Kennedy, meanwhile, comes to the mound today for Victoria having learned much from his father, Shawn Kennedy, who was a pitcher drafted and signed in 1990 by the Texas Rangers.
The best advice the younger Kennedy got from his dad was about persistence: 鈥淗e said, 鈥楧on鈥檛 let anyone tell you 鈥楴o.鈥� Keep working hard.鈥� 鈥�
The younger Kennedy, who pitched in the California high school state championship game for his division at Angels Stadium in Anaheim, has taken that paternal advice to heart. As with Wright, the major-league draft remains his goal. Even though he doesn鈥檛 have Wright鈥檚 size, Kennedy describes himself as a power pitcher who likes to establish his fastball during games.
鈥淚鈥檓 up to 88-89 miles per hour, and I want to get a lot of work this summer on the mound in Victoria, to get that velocity up to the 90鈥檚,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 really excited about [today鈥檚] start.鈥�
Kennedy was 9-4 with a 1.98 ERA and 78 strikeouts in 2014 for East Los Angeles College, where he played for HarbourCats pitching coach Alec Adame.
He transferred for 2015 to Georgetown College in Kentucky 鈥� where he went 0-2 in 11 games, seven as a starter, with a 5.40 ERA 鈥� but Adame had seen enough pluck the year before that he knew he wanted Kennedy in Victoria.
Meanwhile, the Victoria offence Saturday was led by P.J. Floyd鈥檚 two hits. Tyler Gillies took the win for Kelowna.
The HarbourCat franchise, in its third season, is looking to improve on its records of 25-29 and 22-32 from 2014 and 2013, respectively. The HarbourCats open a three-game set Tuesday at RAP against the Kitsap Blue Jackets from Washington state.
