But sporting connections are surprisingly few.
The last time Victoria and Bellingham teams met in notable baseball was in 1980 when the Bellingham Mariners and Victoria Mussels finished 1-2 in the North Division of the pro Single-A short-season Northwest League.
More than three decades later, teams from the two cities again look to have a decent race going in the North Division, this time of the West Coast League.
The Victoria HarbourCats defeated the Bellingham Bells 4-2 Wednesday night before 474 fans at Joe Martin Stadium in a battle of the early-season leaders atop the North Division of the WCL.
The HarbourCats ended a two-game losing skid and moved to 8-3, while the Bells had a four-game winning streak snapped in going to 7-4.
Bryan Conant, an imposing six-foot-five, 220-pound lefty from Cal State-Fullerton, made an impressive mound debut for Victoria in fashioning a six-hit, four-strikeout victory in going 72脷3 innings. He only joined the team the day before.
鈥淭he new kid [Conant] was quality tonight. He was commanded the zone,鈥� said Victoria manager Dennis Rogers.
鈥淗e really gave us a lift. He鈥檚 a prototype pitcher coming from the left side. He had good command of his fastball. He forced balls into play and didn鈥檛 get deep into his counts.鈥�
Ty Provencher from Long Beach State, who is becoming the HarbourCats go-to closer, came on in relief to shut the door.
The newcomers are coming hot and heavy for the HarbourCats, as the roster fills out with more players arriving now daily after collegiate and high school playing commitments and exams.
Among them was short-stop Timmy Richards, a high school player from Long Beach headed next season to Cal State-Fullerton, who had two hits for Victoria.
鈥淗e鈥檚 our only high school player and he鈥檚 going to have a legitimate college career and, down the road, a pro career,鈥� said Rogers.
Justin Burba, coming off his freshman season with the University of Oklahoma Sooners, had an RBI to go along with the other Victoria RBIs from David Schuknecht and Jordan Ellis.
Rogers said before the game that Bellingham was the first opponent his team has faced this season whose throwers featured secondary pitches after seeing mostly only fastballs from Medford and Kelowna hurlers.
He vowed his squad would 鈥渕ake adjustments.鈥�
It appeared the HarbourCats did in recording seven hits, most importantly in key situations.
The clubs, tied 1-1 in their three-game set, meet again tonight in the rubber match.
