CLEVE DHEENSAW
sa国际传媒
Derby is more of a soccer term when it comes to regional match-ups but can be applied to other sports. Whatever you want to call it, the Victoria HarbourCats versus Nanaimo NightOwls three-game baseball series tonight, Wednesday and Thursday at Serauxmen Stadium in the Harbour City looks to be a corker featuring top-level players in the West Coast League.
HarbourCats first baseman and catcher Tyler Davis out of Fresno State was named WCL player of the week for going 12-for-22 at the plate with 14 RBIs to extend his league lead to 39. Davis also leads the league with 33 runs and is among the league leaders with 11 steals in 33 games. (Nick Dumesnil of Victoria leads the WCL with 16 stolen bases, teammate Michael Crossland is third with 12, and Dallas Macias and Davis are 11 each for the aggressive HarbourCats).
“You need to have the freedom to fail in this sport,” Davis told the sa国际传媒.
“If you get a hit every third time at bat, you’re in the Hall of Fame. It’s a good thing it’s a team sport. The next guy is there to lift you up.
“We have each other’s backs on this team. We all just want to win.”
Winning is what the HarbourCats have been doing, especially at home, moving to a torrid 20-1 at Wilson’s Group Stadium at Royal Athletic Park by beating the Wenatchee AppleSox (25-11) by a 6-1 count Sunday afternoon to sweep the three-game series and extend their overall winning streak to eight games and league-best record to 28-11. Davis had two hits and an RBI on Sunday to increase his batting average to .369 on the season.
Davis’s player-of-the-week honour comes after Hudson Shupe of the HarbourCats, who leads the WCL in batting at .421, was named the top-ranked player in the second 20-player WCL Spotlight list released this week.
The lists, released every two weeks, highlight the top WCL players with pro potential. A final season-ending list will be unveiled in August. The first WCL Spotlight list featured five players who were selected in the MLB draft last week.
Nanaimo promises to be ready for the Island derby.
Two players from the NightOwls (18-18 and coming off a 7-2 win over the Bellingham Bells on Sunday) were listed in the second WCL Spotlight ranking with right-fielder Jax Hisle, grandson of former Minnesota Twins star Larry Hisle, ranked at No. 10 and pitcher Bear Pinedo at No. 14. NightOwls infielder Elijah Ickes, selected by the Texas Rangers in the MLB draft last week, was listed in the first WCL Spotlight released this season.
The WCL is among several summer collegiate leagues across North America in which NCAA players can extend their seasons into the summer after their university seasons end in the spring.
