VICTORIA 5
MEDFORD 1
Three, three-game series and three sweeps 鈥� it鈥檚 exactly what the doctor ordered for the Victoria HarbourCats, who went from a below-average start to the West Coast League season to back in a race for the one wild card spot and possibly the division.
Victoria capped their run with a team record ninth straight victory on Wednesday night in Medford, defeating the Rogues 5-1 to improve to 17-16.
But the most pivotal stretch of their 2015 campaign begins tonight as the West Division-leading Bellingham Bells visit Royal Athletic Park for three games. It gets going with a 6:35 p.m. start as the HarbourCats attempt to close in on the Bells鈥� four-game lead after Bellingham lost in extra innings in Cowlitz on Wednesday. Yakima also lost, so Victoria is just one win behind the wild-card mark.
鈥淲e haven鈥檛 played Bellingham yet so the opportunity is there for us, with nine games against them. Six of those are in Bellingham, so this home series is extremely important for us to gain ground for the division title,鈥� said HarbourCats general manager Jim Swanson.
The two teams meet again Friday at 6:35 p.m. and then close it out Saturday at 1 p.m.
On Wednesday, the HarbourCats struck first as Ben Polshuk鈥檚 single scored Chase Lambert, who opened the game with a walk on five pitches from Medford starter A.J. Dean.
The Rogues tied it at 1-1 in the bottom half of the first when Derron Davis singled, advanced to second and then stole third and home on pitcher Josh Mitchell.
Dean was stingy for most of the night. After allowing a pair of hits in the first he did not surrender another until the seventh when P.J. Floyd doubled with one out. An error by Medford shortstop Tony Roque then blew the game open as the HarbourCats plated four runs in the inning.
Meanwhile, Mitchell gave up nine hits but just the one run through six innings before giving way to Austin Dondanville.
Dondanville had three strikeouts of his own in tossing two innings and Henry Omana closed it out with three fly balls.
