Of the five Victoria all-star game representatives, four appeared on the mound in the game, won 5-2 by the South Division over the North Division.
That statistic tells you all you need to know about what the HarbourCats will rely on going into the home stretch of the WCL season. It begins with the start of a three-game set tonight in Bellingham against the Bells and continues through another road set beginning Saturday in Gresham, Oregon, against the GreyWolves.
Victoria鈥檚 top-end pitching is strong. It includes the all-star game participants: Starters Adam McKillican from the Comox Valley (4-0, 1.84 ERA) and incoming Auburn Tigers SEC freshman Jack Owen (3-1, 1.43 ERA), 95- miles-per-hour reliever Indigo Diaz of North Vancouver (1-0, 4.65 ERA) and closer Travis Kuhn from the University of San Diego (seven saves, 2.10 ERA).
鈥淲e know our starters can give us at least five quality innings and that [Diaz] can come into the eighth inning to set up [Kuhn] for the ninth. It all comes down to our middle relief. We have to get through the sixth and seventh innings,鈥� said Victoria GM Brad Norris-Jones.
It is a simple game when explained with that kind of clarity. In baseball, it always comes down to the pitching. Victoria鈥檚 best on the mound are very good. But the lower end of the bullpen is not so certain.
鈥淲e have to keep getting quality outs from our top pitchers,鈥� said Hunter Vansau, the lone position player named from the HarbourCats to the 2017 all-star game, where he went 0-for-3 at the plate. The Mississippi State swinger is hitting .386 with five home runs and was runner-up in the WCL home-run derby on Monday night in Yakima. Vansau is among a number of HarbourCats who can lace into the ball. That is not an issue with this club. Andrew Shaps is hitting an otherworldly .529, Shane McGuire .458, Nick Moroney .348, Noah Prewett .345 and Po-Hao Huang .308.
The stretch drive could also come down to Victoria鈥檚 middle-relief bullpen depth. It hasn鈥檛 been great this season, with only Blake Hannah of UC-Davis (2.16 ERA) and Prewett from the University of San Diego (2.00 ERA) standing out. But if those throwers can hand the games to Diaz and Kuhn to put away, the 鈥機ats will do just fine.
鈥淏oth Diaz and Kuhn throw into the 90s and are next-level players,鈥� said Norris-Jones.
With the Kelowna Falcons having captured the first-half North Division title, the other teams are in a scramble to grab the second-half championship and the playoff date against Kelowna that would go with it. Victoria is 6-4 in that quest and half a game behind the Wenatchee AppleSox (6-3). Bellingham is 4-5, Port Angeles Lefties 5-8 and Walla Walla Sweets 3-8. The Falcons, with really no second-half incentive, seem just to be putting in time until the playoffs and are 2-10 in the second half.
Victoria doesn鈥檛 return to Royal Athletic Park until July 25 and a homestand against Kelowna, likely at just about the time the Falcons will be looking to ramp up for the post-season.
鈥淚f we can win at least 10 of our last [17 games], we will be in good position,鈥� said Vansau.
Over to you, pitchers.
