KELOWNA 8 VICTORIA 7
They rolled back into town at 3:30 p.m., a little beaten and worse for wear but hoping to turn their recent West Coast League luck around.
Having dropped five of six games on their latest road trip, the Victoria HarbourCats failed to straighten themselves out, losing 8-7 to the North Division basement dwelling Kelowna Falcons on a wonderfully warm Friday evening in front of 1,591 patrons at Royal Athletic Park.
It wasn鈥檛 what the doctor ordered as the now 11-10 HarbourCats were left licking their wounds, now out-scored 43-21 in the last seven outings, including a 35-14 margin on the six-game road trip by Cowlitz and Wenatchee.
鈥淲e had a difficult trip, obviously, winning just one of the six,鈥� HarbourCats head coach Dennis Rogers said. 鈥淲e got a little over-matched in the last stop, but we鈥檙e back home for six and we need to try and put our attention to the things that we didn鈥檛 do well 鈥� the defence, and pitch much better.
鈥淥ffensively, we leave a ton of guys on base, so we鈥檙e trying to find that hole where we can get some runs.鈥�
The 鈥機ats failed against the now 7-18 Falcons.
Both teams were coming in off three straight losses and Victoria has slid badly after starting the year at 7-1.
鈥淥ur effort is not an issue, but failure starts playing with the psyche,鈥� Rogers said, pointing to his head.
鈥淎ll we can do is address where the issues may be, do the work in BP [batting practice], and also defensively, and hope they carry over to the ball games.
鈥淲e can鈥檛 panic. We鈥檝e only played 21 games and we鈥檙e still up at the top [of the standings],鈥� he added. 鈥淲e鈥檝e hit our bump a little earlier than anticipated, but we don鈥檛 want to sustain the bump.鈥�
The HarbourCats 鈥� on a six-game homestand with three against Kelowna and three more against Walla Walla, which will leave them one game shy of the midway mark 鈥� fell behind 2-0 in the first inning. They were down 3-0 after two when Reed Lavallee crushed a solo shot off 鈥機ats鈥� starter Tanner Kiest over the left-field fence.
Victoria got one back in the third thanks to a leadoff double by Brandon Smith and a Kelowna error.
The Falcons added five runs in the seventh and it appeared to be over, but the HarbourCats scored twice in the eighth and four in the bottom of the ninth to make it interesting.
But Darren Kolk moved from his designated hitter spot to earn the save for Kelowna as starter Preston Gray earned the win. Lefty Caleb Olson will face Victoria righty Robby Nesovic in today鈥檚 second game of the series at 7:05 at RAP.
EXTRA INNINGS: The HarbourCats announced that Hall of Fame general manager Pat Gillick will be in Victoria for a number of appearances during the 2013 WCL All-Star Game presented by Yates Street Taphouse on July 23 at RAP. Gillick has won the World Series three times 鈥� with the Toronto Blue Jays (1992 and 鈥�93) and then Philadelphia Phillies in 2008.聽
