YAKIMA VALLEY 8
VICTORIA 5
听
The Yakima Valley Pippins crashed the Victoria HarbourCats鈥� and Alex DeGoti鈥檚 party Wednesday night 鈥� and in doing so, likely put an end to the HarbourCats鈥� playoff hopes.
The HarbourCats, needing a victory to keep pace with West Coast League wild-card playoff holder Corvallis, fell 8-5 to the Pippins, leaving Victoria three games back of the Knights (30-20) with just four games remaining in the regular season.
The loss also officially ended the HarbourCats鈥� chances of winning the West Division.
Bellingham beat Cowlitz on Wednesday night to move four games up on Victoria (27-23) and the Bells (31-19) own the head-to-head tiebreaker, even if the HarbourCats sweep their three-game series in Bellingham this weekend.
With a joyous atmosphere at the start of the game after DeGoti became the first player named to the new HarbourCats鈥� Wall of Honour, the Pippins used their ace, Jens Jensen (6-1), to silence the HarbourCats bats and the 1,968 fans at Royal Athletic Park in the early going.
The HarbourCats didn鈥檛 get their first run until the fourth inning when centre-fielder Austin Guibor hit a solo home run to right field, the Fresno State product鈥檚 fourth round-tripper of the season.
After the Pippins put up four runs in the top of the fifth inning, all of them charged to HarbourCats starter Henry Omana (2-3), Victoria started chipping away, thanks mainly to catcher Zach Bonneau. Bonneau, out of the University of Washington, was a triple away from the cycle , going 3-for-4 with a single, double and home run, while racking up two RBIs.
The HarbourCats scored two in the fifth and two more in the seventh, but the Pippins (27-24) just kept coming, scoring singles in the seventh, eighth and ninth to keep the HarbourCats at bay. Yakima outhit Victoria 15-11 to avoid being swept for the first time this year.
HarbourCats first baseman P.J. Floyd, out of Sacramento State, also hit a solo home run.
Jake Manson led the Pippins鈥� attack, going 2-for-3 with three RBIs, while A.J. Sawyer was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Jensen went 61脷3 innings, giving up five earned runs, while striking out seven HarbourCats batters. Omana, out of Cal State-Fullerton, finished with 42脷3 innings pitched and five earned runs.
After an off day today, the HarbourCats begin their three-game set in Bellingham on Friday night. If it matters in the standings, the HarbourCats will play a make-up game from a July 26 rainout against Walla Walla on Monday night at Royal Athletic Park.
EXTRA BASES: Corvallis finishes its season with one game tonight against Kelowna and then three games against the Medford Rogues (24-25).
