Sporting the powder blue throwback jerseys of the Single-A Northwest League Victoria Mussels, the Victoria HarbourCats left the Kelowna Falcons feeling a deeper shade of blue with a 12-3 WCL victory Wednesday night at Royal Athletic Park.
It was the battle of the mound goliaths, in terms of size, with six-foot-four Adam McKillican delivering a towering performance to move to 5-1 on the season. McKillican went to two out in the six innings before giving up a hit, and then wriggled out of a bases-loaded jam, to keep the score 2-0 and salvage his night. But Victoria tempted fate by leaving him in and McKillican gave up three runs in the seventh inning before being replaced. The final numbers for the UBC Thunderbirds product out of the Comox Valley included four hits allowed.
鈥淚 got roughed up in my last outing [last week in Bellingham] and I wanted to rebound with a strong outing at home,鈥� said McKillican. 鈥淚 got back on track and felt I did a good job. I cruised through tonight, until I had to battle a bit at the end.鈥�
Kelowna started six-foot-three Brayden Price, who delivers a load a 230 pounds. But the HarbourCats got to him with six hits over five innings, among the 18 they hit on the night.
An expolsive bottom of the sixth inning for Victoria was keyed by Harrison Bragg鈥檚 two-run homer as the Mississippi State slugger landed the ball over the left-field fence.
Two-run singles by each of Po-Hao Huang, well-received by fans waving Taiwanese flags among the crowd of over 2,000, and Shane McGuire just added to the onslaught in the bottom of the eighth inning. McGuire had three hits and three RBIs.
The HarbourCats and Falcons are 1-1 in their current three-game set with the rubber match this afternoon at Royal Athletic Park with a work-day matinee.
The Falcons won the first half of the season but have struggled at 4-13 in the second half. Victoria鈥檚 quest to be that second-half champion the Falcons will face in the North Division playoffs continued apace at 11-7 in the second half (25-20 overall) as the HarbourCats remained 11脷2 games ahead of the Bellingham Bells and Wenatchee AppleSox (both 9-8).
