Griffin Andreychuk is making it look simple 鈥� almost too easy.
The Nanaimo native went 3-for-4 at the plate Thursday afternoon and is now 8-for-13 since joining the Victoria HarbourCats, who defeated the Gresham GreyWolves 3-2 to extend their West Coast League winning streak to eight games.
They will attempt to tie the franchise record of nine consecutive victories tonight at 6:35 vs. the visiting Cowlitz Black Bears, who were at Kitsap last night.
Victoria has managed nine straight wins twice, in each of the last two seasons. Andreychuk was on the roster both times.
鈥淭he last two years, yeah, we鈥檝e managed that. We鈥檙e pushing for 10. Why not, right? Hopefully, we can do that. We鈥檒l see what happens,鈥� he said. On Thursday, the second-baseman rapped out three straight singles. His last one was an RBI effort to left field that opened the scoring in the bottom of the fifth inning.
鈥淭hings are going good right now,鈥� said the third-year HarbourCat, now hitting at a staggering .615 clip. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not bad coming back here and having a hot start. I can鈥檛 complain about that. I鈥檓 just trying to hit the ball hard and see what happens. I鈥檝e managed to make pretty good contact so far.
鈥淚t鈥檚 my third time around. They say the third time is the charm, so we鈥檙e trying to make some playoffs here and trying to give Victoria something to cheer about,鈥� said the Seattle University product.
The fans have had plenty to root about at home, where the HarbourCats are 6-0.
The locals grabbed a 2-0 lead in the fifth inning before giving the two runs back in the top of the sixth. The winning run came in the bottom half of the sixth after a pair of wild pitches from Gresham starter Aaron Shoup allowed Matt Smith to score the decisive run.
The HarbourCats improved to 8-3 in front of a lively afternoon and school-day crowd of 3,142 at Royal Athletic Park. The GreyWolves slump to 3-6 after being swept in Victoria.
James Kannenberg started on the mound for the HarbourCats and the right-hander allowed two runs on just three hits over five innings. The team committed a pair of errors behind him. Fellow righty Ryan Steindorf then gave up just one hit over the final four innings for the win.
Shoup, a lefty, took the loss for Gresham, surrendering three runs on eight hits over six innings. Carter Buuck went two innings, giving up three hits.
There were a pair of key defensive plays: HarbourCats right-fielder A.J. Alcantara made a diving catch to end the second inning with a Gresham runner on third. GreyWolves third-baseman Michael Breen then snared a hot grounder off Brad Pluschkell鈥檚 bat to end a Victoria threat in the second.
The GreyWolves were toothless over the last four innings as Steindorf bested 12 of the 13 batters he faced. Ryan Rodriguez beat out an infield single with one out in the ninth as the only hit, but Steindorf then managed a pair of pop-ups to third base and short to end it.
EXTRA INNINGS: Victoria is expected to bring in a second fireworks promotion night, looking at July 9 for the extravaganza at RAP. 鈥� The HarbourCats wore their snazzy red jerseys on Thursday. 鈥� The victors finished with 11 hits, with Smith and Pluschkell each collecting two.
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