With the West Coast League all-star game set later this month at Royal Athletic Park on his summer home diamond, you just know where Alex Real wants to be on that night. And it isn鈥檛 in the stands watching.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 definitely a goal [making the all-star game July 23] I put forth for myself when I got here,鈥� said the 2011 draft pick of the Atlanta Braves.
And he might get there.
The Victoria HarbourCats first-baseman 鈥� although fairly quiet with a base hit and run scored in a 6-1 loss Monday to the Walla Walla Sweets before 1,426 fans at Royal Athletic聽鈥� cranked a monster grand-slam in the eighth inning of Sunday鈥檚 9-5 victory before 1,402 fans at the park over the Kelowna Falcons.
In the seven games leading into Monday, the University of New Mexico Lobo went nine-for-27 at the plate with three doubles, a triple, that grand slam and eight RBIs to be named HarbourCats player of the week.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 control what happens [all-star selection],鈥� said Real, who leads the WCL in slugging percentage and is in the top-five in six other league batting categories
鈥淚t鈥檚 a process. I鈥檓 just going to keep doing what I鈥檓 doing. It鈥檚 a matter of getting locked in mentally and not swinging at bad pitches.鈥�
The long ball was also part of the story Monday as Walla Walla swingers Kramer Lindell and John Skrbec touched Victoria starter Ty Provencher for home runs to key a 3-0 Sweets lead by the top of the fifth inning. Provencher, who lost for the first time after coming into the game with three wins, threw 118 pitches in eight complete innings with six hits and three runs allowed with seven strikeouts.
Newcomer Joe Record, a high schooler en route to UC-Santa Barbara of the NCAA in the fall, came on relief and allowed two unearned runs in only one third of an inning. But Record received no support from his Victoria fielders, who committed two errors during his brief time in the game. Record was replaced by Logan Lombana, who allowed the final run.
The offensive highlights for Victoria were few Monday and provided by Chris Lewis and homeboy Austin Russell, who each went two-for-four.
Victoria (13-11) lost its sixth-consecutive series opener. The HarbourCats and Sweets conclude their three-game set on Caledonia with games tonight and Wednesday.
The HarbourCats killed themselves by committing several sloppy base-running mistakes on offence and four errors on defence.
The Sweets, who lost 4-3 to Klamath Falls in a Sunday evening home game, left southeastern Washington by bus at 3 a.m. Monday morning to catch the 12:45 p.m. Coho ferry out of Port Angeles. But if they were fatigued, the Sweets certainly didn鈥檛 show it against the HarbourCats and were full value for their victory.
Residents like to say Walla Walla is a city so nice they named it twice. It has a smart-looking baseball team, too (17-11). Playing off their region鈥檚 most famous product, the team is named Sweets after the onion. The jerseys are clever 鈥� featuring the word 鈥淲alla鈥� printed only once followed by an exponent to the power of two.
Meanwhile, reliever Joe Navilhon took the win for Victoria on Sunday against Kelowna. The game featured bombs galore with the Falcons belting out three homers to take a 4-1 lead before Victoria answered with two of its own with a Tim Richards dinger and Real鈥檚 grand slam.
鈥淚t was the first grand slam in my life, at any level of ball 鈥� even in practice,鈥� said Real. 鈥淚t felt great.鈥�
cdheensaw@timescolonist
