WENATCHEE 8
VICTORIA 1
Half of the seats in Paul Thomas Sr. Field in Wenatchee, Wash., used to be from the old Kingdome in Seattle. Nostalgia value notwithstanding, they were probably getting pretty funky and were ripped out last year for newer seating. Whatever they were sitting on, the 1,663 Wenatchee baseball fans out Wednesday night certainly had a good time as they were treated to their hometown AppleSox defeating the Victoria HarbourCats 8-1, followed by a fireworks display in honour of today鈥檚 U.S. Independence Day.
鈥淭hey [AppleSox] play well in their ballpark and have a history behind them here,鈥� said Victoria head coach Dennis Rogers.
The streaking AppleSox (13-10) have won eight of their last 11 West Coast League games and have swept to two wins in their series against the HarbourCats (11-8). The three-game set concludes tonight as the HarbourCats will look to right their recent spiral.
Victoria lost its fourth game in five outings. And it hasn鈥檛 been pretty, as the HarbourCats have committed 12 errors over those last five games.
鈥淭hey [AppleSox] are much better than us right now,鈥� said Rogers, after the game. 鈥淲e鈥檙e a step behind on everything. They throw strikes and we can鈥檛 put together anything offensively. 鈥�
Victoria banged out 10 hits Wednesday, but to little avail. The only H-Cats hit that made a dent was David Schuknecht鈥檚 homer.
Victoria is playing 12 games in 12 days, concluding six on the road today in Wenatchee before embarking on six consecutive at home starting Friday night at Royal Athletic Park with three against the Kelowna Falcons followed by three against the Walla Walla Sweets. That鈥檚 the deal in an intensive summer collegiate league such as the WCL 鈥� to learn what it鈥檚 going to be like in the minor pros to ride buses on endless Interstates and play every day while swinging wood bats.
Second games of series had been a strong point for Victoria, but the HarbourCats fell to 5-2 in that category with last night鈥檚 setback.
AROUND THE BASES: The HarbourCats are scheduled to start Logan Lombana tonight (8.10 ERA in 62脷3 innings pitched in three games).
