Cody Snider鈥檚 introduction to Royal Athletic Park has been brief, but the 21-year-old Chico State senior likes what he sees so far.
The five-foot-nine, 175-pound Victoria HarbourCats outfielder, who is originally from Coeur d鈥橝lene, Idaho, was hitting at a tidy .333 pace, tied for 17th in the West Coast League heading into Wednesday鈥檚 action.
Snider went 1-for-4 with two runs scored in Wednesday鈥檚 12-4 drubbing of the Wenatchee AppleSox, one night after a 3-for-5 outing in Tuesday鈥檚 11-1 win where he recorded three RBIs and three runs scored that propelled him up the league鈥檚 hitting stats.
His six hits entering Wednesday鈥檚 play had him one back of the overall lead, with a double and a home run to go with four singles. His six runs batted in did led the circuit and he also has a league-leading five stolen bases. Snider鈥檚 double and homer came in Tuesday鈥檚 game, his official introduction to Royal Athletic after playing three away games.
鈥淚t鈥檚 awesome. The environment in the opener was really cool, fun playing in front of such a big crowd. All the guys on the team are fun dudes and I love it so far,鈥� said Snider, who plays left-field at Chico State, a Division II school an hour west of Sacramento, California.
鈥淚t鈥檚 got a great back-drop here. The ball carries well and it鈥檚 definitely a hitter鈥檚 park for us. I felt like my approach was good and I had a good opening night so I鈥檓 hoping to stick with that throughout the season.鈥�
He tapped out an RBI-bloop single to right-centre as part of a six-run third inning before 1,539 fans on Wednesday after making a nice sliding catch in the top of the first inning with a man on first for Wenatchee.
鈥淚 want to just keep improving and the West Coast League will give me an opportunity to do that,鈥� said Snider, who had 35 RBIs at Chico State and hit .305.
He was also a single shy of hitting for the cycle earlier this year at Chico State against Cal State L.A.
鈥淚t was kind of funny because at the end of the game, I was two batters away from getting up again. Still, I was happy with the performance, but the cycle would have been cool,鈥� said Snider, who moved to the Napa Valley as parents Ed and Trish own Beau Vigne vineyard.
鈥淭hey love it and I love it, too,鈥� said Snider, who has two older brothers, Beau and Nick, and younger sister Gabby. 鈥淚t鈥檚 10 acres, small, just high-end Cabernets. Dad used to coach football in the Napa Valley, too, so all the guys who work in the vineyard are ex-football players. We try and keep it close knit.鈥�
Snider, who was named player of the game, also got on with an error after a dropped third strike in the fourth. He then swiped second base.
Victoria starting pitcher Colin Ashworth went seven innings, allowing two runs on five hits and recording six strikeouts before being replaced by Creed Smith, who struggled with two runs allowed and no outs. Skyler Henderson and Greg Casper mopped up.
P.J. Floyd was 2-for-4 and Jarron Silva was 2-for-5 and both scored twice.
Wenatchee starter Jimmy Dobrath allowed six runs on four hits and four walks. Matt Young also allowed six runs for the AppleSox, who are now 0-5 and look to be in for a long year. The HarbourCats improve to 2-3 and look to sweep the series tonight at 6:35.
The Applesox, who were hitting just .157 as a team coming into the night, committed six errors.
