It鈥檚 anybody鈥檚 guess if the 1,003 fans in attendance Wednesday night at Royal Athletic Park will be able to boast they saw future big-leaguer Nick Pivetta pitch way back in the day.
The 2013 fourth-round MLB draft pick, close to signing with the Washington Nationals, made his second and last start for the hometown Victoria HarbourCats in the West Coast League.
Pivetta took his second win as the HarbourCats (4-1) defeated the Medford Rogues of Oregon (4-4) by an 11-4 count.
鈥淚 had fun. It was good being here and winning two games,鈥� said the Victoria Eagles junior graduate.
鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 be happier, but this will be my last game [with the HarbourCats].鈥�
Pivetta said he has informed the Nationals he will sign with them, foregoing an NCAA offer from the University of New Mexico Lobos. The 20-year-old Islander will continue to practice with the HarbourCats until he is assigned to the Nationals鈥� rookie team in Florida.
鈥淚鈥檓 very excited,鈥� he said.
Meanwhile, HarbourCats first-baseman Alex Real again showed he is a player. The broad-shouldered 2011 48th-round draft pick of the Atlanta Braves, out of the University of New Mexico, had three hits and three runs. He was also astutely outstanding in the field, except for an uncharacteristic lapse with an eighth-inning error that caused two of Medford鈥檚 runs to cross the plate.
Victoria outfielder Brandon Smith, an elegant six-foot-three batter and 2012 15th-round draft pick of the Nationals, was also a factor with two hits, two runs and three RBIs.
Victoria scored three runs in the bottom of the second inning before Medford drew within one with two two-out runs in the top of the third. Not having a stone-killer instinct when just one more out is needed has been a recurring problem for Victoria 鈥� of the 22 runs the club has allowed this season, 16 have come with two out.
But Chris Lewis of the HarbourCats, out of Sacramento State, blew the game open in the fourth inning. Lewis鈥� three-run, bases-loaded, two-out double, that fell just under the desperate outstretched glove of charging Medford centre-fielder Quentin Urban, made it 8-2.
That gave Pivetta a cushion the size of Mt. Tolmie with which to work. With the game in hand, and Pivetta at 101 pitches on the night, Victoria manager Dennis Rogers decided to relieve him with two out in the fifth inning. There was no sense risking injury at that point. Pivetta鈥檚 night 鈥� and his brief HarbourCats career 鈥� ended with four hits, three walks and two runs allowed with three strikeouts.
鈥淲e had a pitch count [decided before the game] and stuck to it,鈥� said Pivetta.
Six-foot-four Clark McKitrick, the only left-handed pitcher on the Victoria roster, made his debut by mopping up with four hits and two unearned runs allowed with five strikeouts.
Mac Acker from the University of Washington Huskies lasted only 31脷3 innings in taking the loss for Medford.
The three-game series between the WCL expansion teams, tied 1-1, concludes with the rubber match tonight at 7 at Royal Athletic Park with Joe Navilhon on the mound for the HarbourCats. It will be Navilhon鈥檚 second start of the season. His first was in a Victoria win against Kelowna, although the decision didn鈥檛 go to the right-hander out of Cal-State Fullerton.
