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About all you can do is chalk it up as a night to remember, if for all the wrong reasons, and move on.
The ugly linescore to the Victoria HarbourCats鈥� 24-5 West Coast League baseball loss on Friday night against the Bend Elks (6-1) in Oregon included 25 Bend hits and seven Victoria errors.
鈥淚t鈥檚 baseball. That鈥檚 why you play so many games. Tomorrow is another one,鈥� Victoria GM Jim Swanson said after the blowout.
Meanwhile, some familiar faces are returning to the HarbourCats (3-4). And not a moment too soon.
Gabe Clark from the Oregon State Beavers, selected in the 26th round of the 2015 MLB draft this week by the Toronto Blue Jays, is expected to join the HCats this weekend in Bend.
Popular shortstop Alex DeGoti from Long Beach State, a fan favourite and WCL all-star during both his previous years in Victoria, returns for this third season and will join the club Monday for a game in Washington State against the Cowlitz Black Bears.
The whole idea of summer baseball circuits, such as the WCL, is to introduce collegiate players to the rigours of life in minor-pro ball should they get drafted and eventually move on to that level.
It is a lesson being learned the hard way by the HarbourCats, whose first road game of the season became something of a horror show in Bend on Friday.
It followed a 4-2 home victory on Thursday at Royal Athletic Park, an evening ferry ride, the usual Peace Arch border lineup and then an overnight, 705-kilometre drive from Blaine, Washington, to Bend in central Oregon.
鈥淚 had a lot of experience with this last season,鈥� second-year HarbourCats pitcher Mikey Wright said. 鈥淚t can be a gruelling experience. You try to find a way to relax on the bus and, any way you can, to find some sleep. You try to get some rest, any way you can.鈥�
Wright got the start in Bend, lasting only two innings after giving up eight runs on eight hits.
鈥淪ometimes, it鈥檚 your day, sometimes it鈥檚 not. You鈥檝e got to have a short-term memory as a pitcher,鈥� Wright said before departing for Oregon.
Those are words that the entire HarbourCats roster probably needed to take to heart following Friday鈥檚 debacle.
The HarbourCats play six road games in six days, finishing the set in Bend tonight and Sunday before beginning three games against the Cowlitz Black Bears on Monday in Kelso/Longview, Washington.
鈥淲e play 57 games in 65 days. The guys will be tired, but they are here to learn to play a pro schedule,鈥� Victoria head coach Graig Merritt said before the team departed.
To be a pro in baseball, you must learn to play day-to-day through the aches and fatigue.
There is also what Swanson describes as 鈥渢he logistics of laundry鈥� on the road, especially when you have a night game followed by a day game. Players will, at times, be playing in the same unwashed jersey and pants from the day before, because there often just isn鈥檛 time to find washing machines.
鈥淭ravel is not glamorous at this level, but that鈥檚 the way it is,鈥� said Alex Rogers, a second-year HarbourCats pitcher, who is 2-0 this season.
But that will be life at the rookie-league, Single-A and Double-A level of pro baseball, should they get there, and that is what these collegiate players signed up to get a taste of in the WCL.
Meanwhile, the HCats announced catcher/third-baseman Dane Fujinaka, a starter in the first six games, has left the team for personal reasons.
