The old marketing adage about minor-pro baseball 鈥� and it applies to the summer collegiate West Coast League as well 鈥� is that most of the fans leaving the ballpark don鈥檛 remember the score as much as the experience.
But when a team is 1-6 in its last seven games heading into the game, you know some people in the stands will be starting to keep count.
The Victoria HarbourCats (12-10) were looking for anything to go right. Something finally did Saturday night in an 11-3 victory over the Kelowna Falcons (8-18) before 1,620 sun-drenched fans at Royal Athletic Park.
John Schuknecht cranked out the first grand slam in the HarbourCats inaugural season, in the eighth inning, to seal the deal.
He said he saw the sign was 鈥渢o go for it.鈥�
And he did.
鈥淚t鈥檚 good to get rolling again [as a team],鈥� Schuknecht said. 鈥淭his feels good. The fans were awesome.鈥�
Winner Rob Nesovic 鈥� the useful do-everything HarbourCats pitcher-DH-infielder from UC-Santa Barbara 鈥� was humming on the mound with a 5-0 lead until allowing two runs in the seventh inning. After walking the first two batters of the eighth inning, Nesovic鈥檚 night was done with nine hits allowed and eight strikeouts. Ryan Keller from the University of San Diego came on in relief and managed to wriggle out of a bases-loaded jam with Victoria鈥檚 6-3 lead intact.
Victoria product Austin Russell, one of the pleasant surprises of the season, got Victoria on the board in the first inning with a two-out, RBI double. With the bases loaded, Chris Lewis was walked to record his team-leading 16th RBI of the season, making it 2-0. Further damage was quelled by Kelowna when 2013 college World Series champion Brett Urabe from the UCLA Bruins struck out, leaving three stranded to end the opening inning. Over the previous seven games, that would have come back to bite the HarbourCats. But not on this night.
A David Schuknecht RBI made it 3-0 in the fifth inning. A two-out, two-RBI single by Alex DeGoti 鈥� the steady Long Beach State hitter who has hit safely in 13 of his last 14 games 鈥� made it 5-0 in the sixth.
The HarbourCats conclude their 12-games-in-12-days stretch with a home matin茅e today against the Falcons before opening a three-game set against the Walla Walla Sweets 鈥� yes, named after the famous onion 鈥� on Monday at RAP.
Six-foot-five lefty Bryan Conant (2-1) from Cal State-Fullerton gets the start this afternoon for Victoria while the Falcons go with their ace Nolan Savage (3-1) from Western Texas College.
Victoria has a 6-2 edge as today鈥檚 game will conclude the nine-game season series against the Falcons.
AROUND THE BASES: This year鈥檚 HarbourCats roster has featured eight players who have been selected in the MLB draft 鈥� Timmy Richards (Marlins), Tanner Kiest (Dodgers), David Schuknecht (Rockies), Greg Fettes and Dylan Lavelle (both Tigers), Alex Real (Braves), Brandon Smith and Nick Pivetta (both Nationals).
