When he came to town after facing aluminum bats in his NCAA season with the Long Beach State Dirtbags, pitcher Ty Provencher vowed to 鈥渂low apart鈥� the wooden bats he would be facing in the summer West Coast League.
He wasn鈥檛 kidding.
What a revelation Provencher has been on the mound this season for the Victoria HarbourCats.
Provencher threw a complete-game five-hit victory Friday night before 1,340 fans at Borleske Stadium in Walla Walla, Wash., to lead the HarbourCats to a 3-1 decision over the Sweets.
In addition to allowing only one run and one walk, Provencher (5-3) struck out nine Walla Walla batters on a not-so-Sweet night for the home side.
鈥淚 felt good and found the strike zone,鈥� said Provencher, who survived a ninth-inning Victoria error that made things dicey.
鈥淭hey scored on me early and that was a wake-up call and I re-focused. Having confidence is the key.鈥�
John Schuknecht continued his hot hand at the plate for Victoria by knocking out his fifth home run of the season and fourth in the last four games.
Brett Urabe, who earlier this year won the NCAA College World Series title with the UCLA Bruins, went two-for-two with a run for Victoria. He faced six-foot-one UCLA teammate and Walla Walla starter Cody Poteet (2-2), who was named top MLB prospect by scouts at last month鈥檚 WCL all-star game played in Victoria at Royal Athletic Park.
Poteet gave up three hits and three runs 鈥� only one of them earned as the Sweets committed three errors 鈥� in seven pretty good innings of work on the mound. But it wasn鈥檛 enough as this night belonged to his opposite number Provencher.
鈥淚t all starts and ends with the pitcher,鈥� said Victoria manager Dennis Rogers.
鈥淎nd Ty Provencher was stellar tonight. I was just as impressed with our overall effort level after a 12-hour trip to get here [following Thursday night鈥檚 loss to the Klamath Falls Gems at Royal Athletic Park].鈥�
Fourth-place Victoria (20-25) is four games behind the first-place Wenathcee AppleSox (25-22) and 3.5 games behind the second-place Bellingham Bells (25-23), the latter who currently hold down the second-and-final playoff slot in the North Division. The Sweets (23-22) are in third place, one game behind leading Wenatchee and half a game behind the Bells.
The HarbourCats are down to their final nine regular-season games, the next six on the road, including tonight again in Walla Walla. The season-ending homestand is Aug. 9-11 against Bellingham.
