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The Victoria HarbourCats flexed their Mussels early on Tuesday night, but couldn鈥檛 hold the pose.
On a night when the HarbourCats paid tribute to Victoria鈥檚 independent minor pro team from the late 1970s, sporting their throw-back baby blue jerseys, Victoria struck early against the Yakima Valley Pippins.
But they did little the rest of the way, losing the West Coast League game 12-6 in front of 1,406 fans at Royal Athletic Park.
After the Pippins went up 1-0 in the top half of the first, the HarbourCats鈥� bats came flying out of the gate, led by Andrew Shaps and Bryce Bonner. Both Shaps, out of Chico State, and Bonner, from Purdue, blasted three-run home runs to send the 鈥機ats to the second inning with a 6-1 lead.
But the offence ended there for Victoria. Yakima Valley scored in every inning except the fourth to run away with it and improve to 15-16 overall and 2-2 in the second half.
鈥淚 guess we thought six runs was enough 鈥� and clearly it wasn鈥檛,鈥� Shaps said of the HarbourCats鈥� power outage after the first inning. 鈥淲e have to learn to not give in when they get a couple [of] runs and keep pouring it on, but we took the foot off the gas and it cost us.鈥�
Shaps finished with three hits, while Bonner and Harry Shipley each had two for Victoria.
鈥淚鈥檓 starting to feel pretty good now, after a bit of a slow start,鈥� said Shaps, whose shot to right-centre was his first round-tripper of the season. 鈥淚鈥檝e been working really hard with the coaches on my mechanics and it鈥檚 starting to pay off.鈥�
Taylor Prokopis (2-3), out of Colorado Mesa University, started for the HarbourCats and went four innings, giving up six runs as Victoria dropped to 19-16 overall and 5-3 in the second half as they chase the North Division鈥檚 second-half pennant and the playoff spot that goes with it. Wenatchee at 3-1 leads the second-half playoff race.
鈥淲e鈥檙e still confident we can make the playoffs,鈥� added Shaps. 鈥淭his my third year of summer ball and this is the closest team, in terms of chemistry in the locker-room, that I鈥檝e been on. So we won鈥檛 let this get us down.鈥�
Kade Woods (5-2) started for the Pippins and shook off that rough first inning to go four complete innings while throwing 101 pitches. Will Adair pitched three scoreless innings and Pete Minella followed by blanking the HarbourCats in the eighth and ninth. Tyler Bosetti led the Yakima attack, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs.
EXTRA BASES: Tonight鈥檚 scheduled starter for the HarbourCats is left-handed knuckleballer Claire Eccles, who is 1-0 but coming off a rough outing in her last appearance in which she gave up five runs while getting just one out against the Bend Elks. Eccles, out of UBC, will be the first female to start a WCL regular season game. 鈥� After the series with Yakima Valley, the HarbourCats get the weekend off from league play, but will host senior men鈥檚 team Burnaby in exhibitions on Saturday and Sunday at Royal Athletic.
